Possible Selves in Balance: Implications for Delinquency

An approach to the initiation, maintenance, and cessation of delinquency is outlined in which an adolescent's possible selves play a pivotal role. Possible selves are the individual's self‐relevant expectations for the future. They include what a person hopes to become, expects to become, and fears that he or she might become. With respect to action control, a particularly important aspect of adolescents' configuration of possible selves is the balance between their expected possible selves and their feared possible selves. Balance occurs when expected possible selves (e.g., “I will get a good job”) are offset by countervailing feared possible selves in the same domain (e.g., “I could be unemployed and on the street”). Without balance between expected and feared selves in important domains, both the initiation and the maintenance of delinquent activity are more likely. The dynamic interaction between the social environment, expectations of the self, and delinquency involvement is highlighted.