Identity formation

I'm going to be touching on themes of self-understanding with my classes and found this helpful Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology backgrounder on identity formation, which covers the highlights: the carving of the personal identity as unique individual and as social persona based on group affiliations. The article emphasizes Erikson's theories of developmental stages. Adolescence is the critical period for identity formation and identity crisis, though adulthood has its crisis points too, such as the late 20's/turning 30 phase, midlife crisis, menapause, etc. Also mentioned is J.E. Maricia's idea that adolescents confront identity formation in 4 basic ways: identity-achieved (those who confront and resolve their crisis), identity-foreclosed (those backdown into conventional, prefigured identity without a fight), identity-diffused (those who avoid the struggle and remain in arrested development, unable to commit), and the "moratorium" group, who can't make up their minds and experience a long struggle to find themselves.