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Running Head: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Personal Development Paper
Jennifer DePrey
EDUC 512: Adolescent Psychology
Seattle University
February 2011
Amy Eva
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Personal Development Paper
Introduction
This paper will try to review some of my adolescent experience through the lens of
theories regarding adolescent development. I will use my own experiences during and
immediately following my high school years to demonstrate knowledge of several theories,
including Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development and
Marcia’s four statuses of identity.
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory
To begin evaluating my adolescence, I think it is helpful to look at Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological theory to provide context and background. His theory states that development of an
individual is a result of five systems in their environment. These five systems interact with the
individual and each other to provide context for development.
As an adolescent, I was a chunky, nerdy girl who was often insecure. I was always rushing
head first into adulthood, having a huge desire to be seen as adult, someone who was responsible,
intelligent and able. By the time I turned 17, I had the highest GPA in my class, was involved in a
variety of college-application padding activities ranging from Knowledge Bowl competitions to
Choral and Drama clubs, was attending college part-time, went to church and church related
functions two to three times a week and volunteered the majority of my remaining free time to
serve as a student leader in a ministry for middle school students or as a vocalist and the youngest
member of the church music team. Academic achievement was a huge part of my adolescence,
and my focus on such goals often kept me out of trouble many teens got into around my same age.
The first system in Bronfenbrenner’s theory is the microsystem, referring to the “setting in
which adolescents live their lives” (Santrock, 2008, p. 33). My microsystem was largely limited
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to the physical space of Granite Falls, Washington, the small mountain town where I grew up and
attended school from kindergarten through graduation. In middle and high school I was part of a
group of about 25 students who were labeled as “highly capable,” setting us up to have almost
entirely the same classes. These students became my primary peer group, the people with whom I
interacted most. I was also highly involved with my church, where I became part of the middle
school ministry team and formed tight bonds with other leaders and staff. Other elements of my
microsystem included my family, the choir and drama departments of Granite Falls High School,
and our competitive knowledge bowl team.
Bronfenbrenner’s next system is the mesosystem, a system that is made up of the
“connections between contexts” (Santrock, 2008, p. 33) and the relationships between my
microsystems. My microsystems were often densely connected. My family was highly involved in
my education, with my mother serving as a volunteer on various parent groups, often spending
time at the school. My high-cap group of peers overlapped with my church community, with
nearly half of us belonging to both groups. Choir and Drama both intersected regularly with
school, as they were part of the educational system.
The exosystem is the system outside of mesosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory. The
exosystem is comprised of the “links between a social setting in which the adolescent does not
have an active role and the individual’s immediate context” (Santrock, 2008, p. 33). This would
include things such as my mother’s friends, my father’s coworkers, the school board, the city
government, and the international church organization. Following the exosystem moving outward
in the model is the macrosystem, which is made up of the cultural contexts in which the adolescent
lives. I came from an intact home in the upper middle class. I was a part of the dominant race and
religion in my area. Thought I was impacted by the greater mass media, it’s important to note that
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as enmeshed as I was in my church system, the Christian media had a much more notable effect on
my development, particularly on my development of morals and ethics.
The final system in Bronfenbrenner’s model is the chronosystem, which consists of the
changes in the individual’s environment over the course of their life as well as the sociohistorical
circumstances of the time. My family experienced very little transition over the course of my
adolescence, but I feel it is important to note several sociohistorical factors. One is the placement
of September 11th, 2001 in the context of my adolescent. The September 11th attacks took place
when I was in eighth grade, on my way to school for the day. The culture of patriotism that sprung
up in response to the attacks affected my entire generation. Another is the place that technology
has had and continues to hold in my life; my generation is sometimes referred to as the digital
generation, the first generation to grow up with technologies such as email and internet access. I
feel my placement in history is highly unique in this regard; individuals my age have clear
recollections of a time before technologies such as email and cellular phones became
commonplace, while individuals only a few years younger often cannot recall this.
Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory
Though my early adolescence was remarkably homogenous and static in regards to major
changes, my late adolescence, from about age 18 onward, was rife with the struggles outlined by
Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development. In Erickson’s theory, the main task of
adolescence is to achieve a positive identity. Erickson’s adolescent faces the challenge of
exploring various roles and identities in order to find a path they can follow in life. This stage of
exploration, called psychosocial moratorium, occurs during adolescence (Santrock, 2008).
I certainly fit the model of an adolescent in psychosocial moratorium. In my late high
school years, I was always looking for a new way to be, trying to find any identity that really “fit.”
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I often felt like my skin didn’t quite fit, something most people remember from their teen years.
More than once, I deliberately modeled myself to appear a new way; I was briefly a stereotypical
punk kid, once I spent a period of time wearing nothing but black and red. I twice dyed my hair
crazy colors in an attempt to fit with the drama crowd, and would change my behavior to spend
ridiculous amounts of time in the choir room trying to be the best vocalist around. The identity I
held for most of high school was that of a good Christian girl—I chose not to date, I didn’t drink, I
was at church at least three nights a week, working on various projects, studying the bible, and
volunteering. This role got me the approval of my family, my teachers, and the majority of my
major peer group, so I stuck with it for several years.
Erickson’s concept of identity is made up of many components. As I graduated high
school, my identity was firmly rooted in my religious beliefs and the corresponding sociopolitical
beliefs of the church. I wanted to go into ministry as a vocation, I spent my free time with the
church, I gave little consideration to issues such as political identity and sexual orientation. While
I would have thought of myself as having achieved a positive identity, in reality, the challenge of
identity confusion was just below the surface.
Marcia’s Four Statuses of Identity
Marcia further expands the idea of Erickson’s identity development, looking at four
distinct statuses of identity, based on whether the individual had explored the options open to them
and made a commitment to a certain path or course of action (Santrock, 2008). Through Marcia’s
lens, much of my adolescence was spent in the stages of diffusion followed by foreclosure, where
I had not considered other options, merely committed to what was expected of me: that is, to
accept what my church taught me and pursue what I thought was acceptable for me. In the year
following high school, I moved into real moratorium, not sure of what I should do, but actually
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considering the various options. Immediately after high school, I started an internship in ministry
leadership, but I had begun to question what was taught to me. My systems of influence opened as
I attended a liberal college with a social justice focus and as I began to explore the nerdy part of
my personality more, making friends with people with similar interests who were vastly different
from me. I experienced the anxiety and dissatisfaction that go along with the moratorium phase.
Ultimately, I came to conclusions about my beliefs as widely different from church group.
Though I desired to maintain relationships with the group, the disconnect between my beliefs and
their expectations ultimately led to most of our ties deteriorating. I found myself closer to a wider,
more diverse group of friends. I found myself living with a healthier self-concept and higher selfesteem. I had finally found an identity that “fit,” and became a person that I liked at most times,
regardless of the context I found myself in. Marcia would have placed me in the stage of identity
achievement as a result of my consideration and commitment to a particular way of being.
Conclusion
Marcia later suggests that we move between moratorium and achievement for various
issues throughout our lifecycle. At just 22, I feel that it would be disingenuous to pretend that I
have completely escaped the worries and challenges of adolescence. I am largely still defining
who I am, working towards a variety of goals and still striving to understand my self in the context
of the systems I am a part of. I can see myself now in the stage of emerging adulthood. I recognize
that the development of my identity merely started in adolescence, and will be challenged and
refined for the remainder of my life as my contexts change. The person I am today is grateful for
the processes I went through in my adolescence.
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References
Santrock, J.W. (2008). Adolescence: Twelfth edition. New York, NY: The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.