Identity in Adolescence

"Fully updated to include the most recent research and theoretical developments in the field, the third edition of Identity in Adolescence examines the interaction of individual and social context in the process of identity formation. Setting the developmental tradition in context, Jane Kroger begins by providing a brief overview of theoretical approaches to adolescent identity formtion currently in use. This introduction is followed by a discussion of five developmental models which reflect a range of attempts, from the oldest to among the most recent, to describe this process; works of Erik Erikson, Peter Blos, Lawrence Kohlberg, Jane Loevinger and Robert Kegan are included in this volume. Although focusing on each theorist in turn, this volume also compares and integrates the varied theoretical models and research findings and sets out some of the practical implications for social response to adolescents. Different social and cultural conditions and their effects on the identity formation process are also covered, as are contemporary contextual, narrative and post-modern approaches to understanding and researching identity issues."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Mental Health. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.