IDENTITY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY AND RESEARCH, 2(1), 15

Copyright 2002 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Introduction:
Identity Development
Through Adulthood
Jane Kroger

Psychology Department
University of Troms

The problem of adulthood is how to take care

of those to whom one finds oneself committed
as one emerges from the identity period, and
to whom one now owes their identity.

Erikson, 1968, p. 33

The process of identity development through adulthood has been a topic of growing
interest among identity researchers over the past 15 years. Eriksons (1963, 1968)
seminal writings on the identity formation task of adolescence have certainly in-
spired a wealth of theoretical and research writings on processes and contents asso-
ciated with initial identity resolutions made toward the end of adolescence. Identity
as formed in adolescence, according to Erikson, involves finding an optimal balance
between identity and role confusion; this resolution provides the initial framework
through which the biological, psychological, and social demands of adult life are en-
countered. Marcias (1966; Marcia, Waterman, Matteson, Archer, & Orlofsky,
1993) elaborations of Eriksons bipolar task of adolescence have been popular in un-
derstanding identity processes and contents over adolescence and young adulthood.
Researchers using Marcias identity status paradigm (Marcia, 1966, 1967) have now
produced several hundred publications and many valuable insights regarding the
identity formation process of adolescence.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Jane Kroger, Department of Psychology, University of Troms, N9037
Troms, Norway. E-mail: jkroger@psyk.uit.no
2 KROGER

Erikson (1968) noted, however, that the process described [identity develop-
ment] is always changing and developing: at its best, it is a process of increasing
differentiation (p. 23). How then, may identity development proceed beyond ad-
olescence? In his well-known epigenetic diagram of the psychosocial stages,
Erikson (p. 94) illustrated the precursors of the identity versus role-confusion task
of adolescence, both in terms of its components appearing in earlier psychosocial
tasks and the contributions of earlier task resolutions toward identity versus
role-confusion issues of adolescence. However, he has remained silent on the
ways in which identity components may change and be changed by the
psychosocial task demands of adult development. Whitbourne (1986a, 1986b) and
Josselson (1987) were among the first researchers to draw attention to identity pro-
cesses beyond the years of adolescence, noting considerable changes in identity
processes and commitments beyond the initial resolutions of late adolescence. An
adult form of Marcias (1966) identity status interview by Archer and Waterman
(1993) has provided further possibilities for extending identity status concepts
into adult life. However, many questions arise as one attempts to consider the con-
tours of identity beyond its formative years in adolescence. What dimensions of
identity are likely to change over the course of adult life, and what drives identity
changes? Are the processes of exploration and commitment, so vital to initial iden-
tity resolutions of adolescence, still relevant to identity revisions that may be made
during adult life? Are Marcias (1966, 1967) identity statuses still relevant in de-
scribing various modes of identity resolution during adult life? These and further
issues are considered in the articles of this special issue.
Articles for this special issue of Identity: An International Journal of Theory
and Research grew from an invited symposium, Identity Development Through
Adulthood, presented at the International Congress of Psychology in Stockholm,
Sweden, July 2000. Presenters had been requested by the symposium organizer to
offer an overview of their previous research programs and to present some of their
current thinking on issues related to identity development during the adult years of
life. Initial conference papers were elaborated, reviewed, and again expanded to
appear as articles for this special issue. We thank the many reviewers who pro-
vided invaluable assistance in helping these articles reach their present form.
James Marcia and colleagues (e.g., Bradley & Marcia, 1998; Hearn et al., 2001;
Orlofsky, Marcia, & Lesser, 1973) have worked over the past three and a half de-
cades to develop measures of identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity. All of
these measures have adopted a status approach in specifying qualitatively dif-
ferent styles by which individuals may resolve the various psychosocial tasks of
adult life. In the opening article, Marcia provides an overview of these measures
and proposes possible developmental linkages between the identity statuses of late
adolescence and the different statuses of intimacy, generativity, and integrity, re-
spectively, during adult life. Marcia also suggests a conical pattern for ongoing
identity development throughout adult life, and illustrates this model as well as
movements through other adult psychosocial stages via clinical case histories.
 INTRODUCTION 3

Marcias contribution to this special issue vividly illustrates the complexities of

identity development beyond its first resolution in adolescence.
Susan Whitbourne, Joel Sneed, and Karyn Skultety wrote the second article,
which reviews Whitbournes previous studies of identity assimilation, accommo-
dation, and balance processes in adult development, and presents a study designed
to explore the relationship between various defense mechanisms and self-esteem
and identity experiences during adult life. Whitbourne and colleagues (e.g.,
Whitbourne & Collins, 1998) had developed and refined an Identity and Experi-
ences Scale that measures the extent to which individuals use identity assimilation
(e.g., minimizing the importance of change), accommodation (e.g., feeling over-
whelmed by the change), or balance (e.g., using the change as an impetus for
growth) in adjusting to some selected, specific changes of aging. The study pre-
sented in their article seeks to clarify unanticipated gender differences in identity
experience and self-esteem from previous research, and their research proposes
very different identity processes for adult men and women, providing a thoughtful
attempt to understand rather complex and unanticipated results in identity pro-
cesses among women.
Janet Strayer offers a third contribution, which focuses on the role of emotions
in identity development, particularly during adult life. Strayers previous research
(e.g., Roberts & Strayer, 1996; Strayer, 1993) addressed the role of emotions in hu-
man development. This article focuses on the role of emotions for identity pro-
cesses of exploration and commitment as well as for identity outcomes in terms of
Marcias (1966) identity statuses. Strayer emphasizes how negative emotions,
which she considers to be a force for change, may help to further identity develop-
ment during adulthood. Tension, notes Strayer, is an inevitable concomitant of
identity consciousness. She offers suggestions for linking emotional development
to stability and change of adulthood identity, and then provides examples from
statements from the life of Ingmar Bergman to illustrate how events must be emo-
tionally salient to evoke identity exploration and change during adult life. In con-
clusion, Strayer offers some unique insights into the Eriksonian identity virtue of
fidelity and its changing contours throughout further Eriksonian psychosocial
tasks of adulthood.
I (Kroger, this issue) present the fourth article, in which I focus on issues of
identity processes and contents during the years of late adulthood. My interests in
late adulthood stem from a recently completed book (Kroger, 2000) in which I ex-
amine identity-related research focusing on adult life. The dearth of identity litera-
ture pertaining to late adulthood inspired this article. I begin my contribution to
this special issue by noting the many parallels between late adolescence and late
adulthood, and provide a review of the scant research available on themes of iden-
tity continuity and content pertaining to the latter time period. I proceed to describe
a small, qualitative investigation I undertook with 14 late-life adults. The investi-
gation was designed to explore possible identity revision (exploration) and main-
tenance (commitment) processes during the early and older years of late
4 KROGER

adulthood. Rather different identity process and content themes prevailed within
each of these two age groups.
Patricia Raskin offers a final commentary on the four manuscripts and over-
views some of her own research on gender differences in identity development
during mid-adulthood. In her commentary, Raskin notes that a diverse number of
themes are covered by the articles, reflecting the great need to further explore and
explain many phenomena associated with identity continuity and change during
adult life. She also focuses on the need to consider contextual issues and cues in
understanding the individual and life stage, the role of loss as an aspect of identity
formation, and the importance of gender differences to the nature of identity devel-
opment and revision throughout adult life.
Lastly, all authors contribute a final statement on future research directions for
the study of identity in the years beyond its initial resolution during adolescence.
Contributors to this special issue wish to encourage further identity research
during and beyond the years of adolescence and hope that the focus of this special
issue may be a step toward that end.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Production of this special issue was supported by a grant from the Norwegian Re-
search Council 144459/300.

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 INTRODUCTION 5

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