Identity
When and how does one become confident in their own skin? This is a common question that most likely runs through the majority of adolescent’s mind throughout their time spent in middle school and onwards into high school. As educators, there are substantial efforts that can be taken in order to ensure the proper environment for these adolescents to help discover their own identity.
It would be naïve to address the topic of bullying without diving deeper into the rigid road these adolescents are forced to take in order to find out where and how they belong in this world. Identity is a topic that is hard to pinpoint is regards to development as well as physical or emotional results. It is a development that occurs over time throughout experiences and lessons. In fact, it would be fair to say that identity is never fully developed to its' potential considering it is something that is constantly changing over time.
To start, we have to address what our own identity is and how it is crucial to our development from adolescents into adults. As mentioned earlier, identity introduces the thought-provoking question of how one finds their place in this world. Although it may sound simple on paper, this can be much easier said than done. Our identity is made up of countless factors that range from interests, beliefs, racial and sexual identity, and so on. (Israel, 2013)
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Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson was one of the most influential Psychologists regarding the study of adolescent identity. Erikson proposed that psychosocial development occurred in eight stages.
While Erikson's psychosocial development chart covers the entire life span of an individual, the main stage that adolescents struggle with is number five, which Erikson labeled, identity versus role confusion.
Within each stage of the psychosocial development, Erikson created a resolution as well. For stage five, the resolution is focused on fidelity which incorporates positive and negative values along with being able to relate to other individuals in a genuine manner.
James Marcia
While Erikson built a strong foundation regarding psychosocial development, James Marcia picked up right there he left off as well as adding four critical identity statuses. These critical levels focus on commitment and exploration.
In order to test how different the individuals were, Marcia created the Identity interview assessment. The questions that were asked ranged from career goals, views of society, and any religious beliefs.
Identity achievement: high level of commitment after a period of high exploration.
Identity foreclosure: high level of commitment after a period of low exploration.
Identity moratorium: high level of exploration without commitment to a particular path.
Identity diffusion: absence of exploration and commitment.
Self-esteem: Self-worth VS. Self-concept
These two topics are not only crucial to the topic of bullying but are also commonly confused and misunderstood.
For an overview of the subject, Self-esteem = Your personal feelings about yourself as well as the confidence in your own abilities.
In 1986, Dr. Morris Rosenberg proposed a theory in which self-esteem was separated into two separate categories, Baseline self-esteem and Barometric self-esteem.
Baseline self-esteem = is your global feelings about oneself that tend to stay stable over time.
Barometric self-esteem = tends to vary from situation to situation as well as having short-term fluctuations.
In regards to a more specific topic such as self-worth VS. self-concept, the details become more discrete, but still important.
Self-worth = is similar to self-esteem, although it focuses on one's belief of their value within a group or society. "Do I provide anything to my friends?"
Self-concept = On the other hand, this portion of identity tends to be more specific. It usually is related to a specific topic such as academics or athletics.
This entire page includes several topics that collaboratively develop an adolescent's identity. In order for an individual to develop appropriately, they need support and confidence throughout this period of finding themselves. Any form of bullying will increase the chances that they will derail from discovering their proper identity. For a young adult to be misguided from discovering their identity, this result can be detrimental to their overall development as well as personal and career goals.