On the intersection of personal and social identities: Introduction and evidence from a longitudinal study of emerging adults

Identity is a central focus of research in the social sciences, national and international politics, and everyday discourse. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary set of social scientists who study personal and social identity. The chapters span childhood through emerging adulthood. This chapter introduces the three goals of the volume: (1) illustrating how the study of identity development is enriched by an interdisciplinary approach, (2) providing a rich developmental picture of personal and social identity development, and (3) examining the intersections of multiple identities. We illustrate these three goals with brief descriptions of how they are addressed in the other chapters in the volume. This chapter also highlights the three goals of the study with data from our ongoing longitudinal study of diverse emerging adults' college pathways.