ESSAY: Identity Formation

Question/Prompt: Identity formation is one of the most important tasks of adolescence. For your thread:
1. Choose one of the four arenas of identity formation (faith, vocation, politics or gender role).
2. Within the arena you have chosen, describe some circumstances from your adolescence that impacted your journey to identity achievement.
3. Consider James Marcia’s four specific coping strategies discussed in the text (role confusion, foreclosure, moratorium or achievement) and describe how they were or were not evident in your experience.
4. Tell whether your faith hindered or helped your journey to identity achievement.
Your thread must be 250–400 words. Use information from the Reading and Study materials for this module to complete this thread (at least two citations and a corresponding reference are required).
Lifespan 360: Christian Perspectives on Human Development
By Virginia Cashion ( Chapter 6)

ANSWER

Development of the distinct personality is very important especially among adolescents who always wish to be identified by a certain gender yet they associate with the opposite one. One of the most critical arena of identity formation is gender role (Baltes, Rudolph & Zacher, 2019).

In my adolescence, gender role had a great responsibility to play in my journey towards identity achievement. Being the only girl in a family of three boys, I found myself in the middle of house chores as my brothers spent most of the time playing with my dad. Other than the house chores, we would stay with my mum till late plaiting each other’s hair as we watched my dad and brothers get excited watching football matches. I therefore developed an inclination towards activities that culture perceived to be meant for women as compared to what was perceived to be meant for men. My mum was also sensitive with kind of games we XXXXXXXXXXXX most of my cousins and even neighbors were boys, she was very sensitive on the types of games we had to XXXXXXXXXXXX ensured that the gender role was clear cut and girls were given lighter duties both in real working and in playing.

According to James Marcia’s coping strategies, it is role confusion that played a great role in my journey to identity achievement. From time to time, I thought of playing with my cousins all of whom were boys XXXXXXXXXXXX they were given tasks to XXXXXXXXXXXX them for all the activities. However, my mother denied me a chance to undertake some of the XXXXXXXXXXXX one time, I wanted to make my hair to be similar to how my brother’s was and even insisted on putting on similar dressing styles. I could desire to play the role of a boy whenever we played. However, my mum ensured that I played the role of women in every XXXXXXXXXXXX moratorium came in as XXXXXXXXXXXX experienced foreclosure as I always imitated my mum as well as other people around me and is like I had no initial character of my XXXXXXXXXXXX faith however had no role in my journey towards identity.