A Literature Review: The Formation of Personal Identity

海燕 于亚莉

【Abstract】Personal identity development is an interactive, dynamic, and complex process formed in such an environment as family, a micro-context where child-parent interaction occurs, resulting to individuation through certain interpersonal communication while parents’ transferring their identity to their children. Disruptive and optimal identity developments, were found to be two kinds of identity development, which are closely related to the fact whether parents have positive or negative personal identities. And informative, normative, and diffuse/avoidant as three fundamental types of identity statuses are introduced as well.

【Key words】personal identity formation; development; parent-child relationship; dynamic; situational

【作者簡介】海燕(1977-)，女，内蒙古呼和浩特人，中国西北大学，助教，硕士，研究方向：语言学，跨文化交流，语言教育；于亚莉(1974-)，女，陕西商州人，中国西北大学，讲师，硕士，研究方向：翻译理论与实践，商务英语。

According to Koepke and Denissen (2012), identity development is characterized by the dynamic “intersection” (p.68) of an individual’s psychological particulars and the characteristics of the ways that he or she deals with the social environment. Soltani, Hosseini and Mahmoodi (2013) stated that identity formation is not simply the add-up of childhood identifications and its development consists of the processes of “introjections” and “identifications”, and “assimilative processes”, and “accommodative processes”, absorbing parents “images”, “roles”, “values”, and “beliefs”, experiencing  “cognitive” and “psychological” changes (p. 1386). According to Beyers and Goossens (2008), components of identity development includes “exploration breadth”, “commitment making”, “exploration depth”, and “identification with commitment” (p. 168). The four components each can indicate certain personal identity status.

1. Dynamic Identity Development Perspective

Dynamic identity development perspective (Koepke & Denissen, 2012) sees identity development not merely as “cognitive and static” states, but also as “day-to-day” (p. 73) sense-making processes, because identity develops in daily experience and practice, and is affected by situational emotions, immediate relationships and by their agency in self-supervising; it also sees identity system as a “complex” (p. 73) system of elements and sub-elements, and micro-social transactions between individual and environment, such as “social feedback, emotional reactions and interpretations” (p. 73) which either fosters or changes identity development and formation.

2. Parent-Child Relationship and Individual Development

Parent-child relationship can be seen as a “micro-social context” (p. 68), where parents provide feedback that helps children in their psychological and social development, especially during the time of children growing into adolescence and an adolescent growing into a young adult (Koepke and Denissen, 2012). The earlier stage of individuation development (starting approximately from age 3) refers the start of physical separation between child and mother and the emergence of awareness about mother as a separate person; phase two occurs during the adolescence period when adolescents increasingly realize their own ability of “self-regulation” (p.76) and take more responsibilities, preparing for “a real sense of individuality”(p. 76), and the relationship between themselves and their parents is growing with more maturation and occurring with more dialogues.

3. Disruptive Identity Development

According to Koepke and Denissen (2012), a “disruptive identity development” (p.83) may happen when parents have unstable identity or are not satisfied with whom they have become, and want their children to complete their desired achievement; thus such “self-interesting parenting” (p. 83) may be characterized with specific demand or high control, and children under this parenting are likely to develop “self-defensive emotional detachment” (p. 83) in order to break off from their parents; it may be difficult for adolescents or emerging adults under such parenting to become confident enough to find an identity fit for them and their “sense of autonomy” (p.83) may be low; they may show high “exploration in depth” and “exploration in breadth” and low “commitment making” and “identification with commitment” (p. 83) because they may be in a constant look for the field they may succeed in; these emerging adult is likely to have to fight against their parents’ authority over their choice, and thus their desire of autonomy makes them want to detach emotionally from their parent.

4. Optimal Identity Development

An “optimal identity development” (Koepke & Denissen, 2012, p. 82) occurs when parents have no dissatisfaction over who they are and who they want to be and they know how to treat their children and what the best is for their children; these parents are able to show “genuine care” (p. 82) for their child’s need and control their behaviors accordingly, which thus may result in strong “self-determination” in their children (p. 82); “situational autonomy-inhibition” (p. 82) as a core features these parents’ way of dialoguing with their child and adjustment is adopted accordingly as their children grow, and thus stimulates more autonomy and encourages agency capacity in their children; children benefit in terms of preparing themselves for future responsive behaviors by “partial transfer of authority from parents to children” (p.82), and parents become less frightful of their children being harmed and thus can be more willing to discuss about their decisions, including their identity confusions and choices; these “autonomy-supportive” (p. 82) parenting practices enable parents to have long and elaborate engagement in the course of child’s identity development, especially in their adolescence and emerging adulthood periods; a “new form of familiarity” would be experienced by parents as well as the emerging adults when they could sense the convergence of their parents’ identity and theirs; thus, then the attachment between them is strengthened and autonomy/separation/individuation of the children is stabilized, and a balanced relationship between autonomy and attachment is achieved.

The disruptive and optimal identity development trajectories indicate that identity of children is formed in the interactions with their parents, and child’s identity system is interrelated with parents’ identity system, for a young child has to follow their parents’ guidance to know whether they act appropriately or not (Koepke and Denissen, 2012; Soltani, Hosseini and Mahmoodi, 2013). Parents react to their children’s behavior in two ways: “assimilation” and “accommodation” (Koepke and Denissen, 2012, p. 81). Assimilation is used when parents think their child’s behavior need to be changed; accommodation happens when parents readjust their own “identity standard” (p. 81) in order to accept their child’s behaviors or attitudes that are not in alliance with their expectations.

5. Identity Status

Different from the two kinds of identity developments, Soltani, Hosseini and Mahmoodi reported three fundamental types of identity status (2013): “informative identity style” has the characteristics of “introspectiveness”, “exploration”, higher “problem-solving” ability, and “open to new experiences” (p. 1387); “normative identity style” has the features of “close-minded”, “conform easily to the beliefs of others”, trying to live up to the expectations of “significant authority figures” (p. 1387). Persons of “diffuse/avoidant identity style” are likely to “procrastinate,” not willing to face problems and choices, and have identity confusion and uncertainty.

6. Family and Identity Development

Family is also the place where children first experience interpersonal communication and their communication behaviors are greatly influenced, and even family communication style shapes their future interpersonal relationships’ success  (Soltani, Hosseini and Mahmoodi, 2013); two communicative styles are found to be distinctive in between parent-and-child communication: “conversation orientation” and “conformity orientation” (p. 1387), and family with the belief in the former encourages all family members to participate in conversation freely about unlimited topics; sharing, free and frequent talking, spontaneity in interaction are encouraged and engaged. Conformity orientation style emphasizes “homogeneity of attitude, values, and beliefs” and features “harmony” (p. 1387) and respect for parents. These two different ways of parent-child communication could influence a child’s identity development differently.

7. Conclusion

Conclusively, parent-child interaction plays a major role in the development and formation of personal identity and parent’s personal identity status and family communication style influence children greatly (Koepke and Denissen, 2012; Soltani, Hosseini and Mahmoodi, 2013). The influence is created in the process of parent-child interaction, which produces maturation, individuation, separation, agency, attachment, or confusion, detachment, dependence, obedience, and negativity. Personal identity is constantly changing and situational. Its complexity displays in the interrelationship of its components and variables in different extents and levels of personal identity achievements.

References：

[1]Beyers, W. and Goossens, L.. Dynamics of perceived parenting and identity formation in late adolescence[J]. Journal of adolescence,2008, 31:165-184.

[2]Koepke, S. and Denissen J. J.A.. Dynamics of identity development and separation-individuation in parent-child relationships during adolescence and emerging adulthood- a conceptual integration[J]. Developmental review,2012,32:67-88.

[3]Soltani, A., Hosseini, S. & Mahmoodi, M.. Social and behavioral sciences[J].2013,84:1386-1390.