Assessment of Identity Development: Current Issues and Future Directions

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Over the past 20 years, much empirical work has accumulated to support Erikson's contention that identity formation is a pivotal developmental task of adolescence. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the three techniques of identity assessment most commonly in use at the present; to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each approach; and to make recommendations for future work, drawing from the literature on career exploration. The field is now at a point where more sensitive measurement is needed in order to understand the processes underlying identity development. Discussion integrates the traditional Erikson-Marcia identity research with the work currently being undertaken in the career development field in order to arrive at a more process-oriented characterization of identity formation.