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Identity development. It is a well-known fact that people are the product of their societies. It is the society that influences peoples perception of the three identity development aspects, namely ethnic, sexual, and self-image, contributes to their interrelation and identity development in adolescents. In the following essay I am going to speak about the integration of ethnic, sexual, and self-image in adolescent development and will create an example to demonstrate their influence on adolescents. Ethnicity is one aspect of identity that used to be very important in the process of character formation in a great number of people prior to 1970 s when the main discrimination issues were resolved and every nation got the equal opportunity to participate in all the activities the society was so glad to provide. Prior to the Rosa Parks case, the black boys were brought up thinking that their place was in the back of the bus with other Afro-americans, while the white boy was brought up thinking that he had the right to possesses whatever he wanted at the expense of the blacks (BARRETT, 43).
The black boy is brought up always saying hi to the whites, smile to them and feel subservient. Or the same boy may develop some sort of unexplainable hatred towards the white brothers simply because the whites are the better sort of people than the blacks. In the worst case, the black may start to hate oneself and blame his / her parents for being black (COLEMAN, 29). Sex is another aspect of identity that is still very important in the process of character formation in a majority of people in the USA as well as around the world. It is a well-known fact that the society places various standards on the boys than on the girls. Because today there is a great number of people who think that men today rule the world, and one cannot disagree with that, I will assess the impact of being a female on the identity formation.
During the teen years, girls begin to separate from their families, assert their own identity, identify with their peers, redefine their relationships with nurturing adults, explore their sexuality, develop their own moral and ethical sense, and prepare for the responsibilities and challenges of adulthood. It's seldom a smooth or easy metamorphosis (COLEMAN, 31). Persistent sexism makes adolescence more confusing for girls by projecting mixed messages about the worth and role of women in society. Girls may measure their own looks against media images of "perfect" female beauty, for example.
Boys on the other hand as a rule do not have a perfect standard to follow. A lack of female role models may make their dreams of future careers in male-dominated fields seem unrealistic. It may sound jaded but still the greatest number of politicians, mayor, directors, CEOs, etc. are men. The USA, which is the freest, and most democratic country on earth never had a female president, which I personally believe, is because the US society still does not believe that females should assume high leadership positions.
The culture of adolescence demands that while young women may achieve, they should be careful not to look too smart or they will not get a boyfriend. Girls may react by silencing their own feelings and turning to others for validation. It would not be surprising to find out that a great number of smart girls are lonely, plus, both girls and boys think that these smarties are either lesbian or abnormal to become friends with them (LOIACANO, 25). Speaking about an example, lets consider a girl Mary who is particularly bright in physics. In school she has to stay late hours home studying, while her less smart girlfriends make out with their boyfriends on the back seat of the car.
She does particularly good in school, but she is not liked simply because shes better than everybody else. When she goes to college, she also will not be able to find much free time to communicate with people. Plus, long hours studying are more likely to negatively reflect on her figure, sight, and the way of communication. When speaking with the opposite sex she would not be able to normally and comfortable communicate and therefore will not be liked either. She might go va-bank and sleep with some boy to look just like other girls, but most likely this will only lead to her dissatisfaction with such experiments. As a result she will not be able to flirt, smile at the members of the opposite sex and as a rule will not be able to use her charms as a powerful weapon to climb up the career ladder in the men-dominated world of physics (COLEMAN, 35).
Self image is another aspect of identity development that has a great influence on the persons present, and future. Self-image is similar to self-motivation that arises from either the personal thinking or from some group belong. The Americans in general possess a self-image of being the best in the world in whatever they do. As a result, in general Americans indeed do pretty well in economics, business, sports and politics. The US goods if not the best in the world than at least one of the best in the world, and this is achieved primarily because people possess the self-image of being Americans. The same self-image concept applies to other groups primarily sports.
Why are football players in general are more aggressive than the chess players in colleges or schools? The answer is self-image: the football players are perceived as already aggressive, assertive, determinate and straightforward. The chess players are perceived as slow, smart, always-thinking, and steady. The reason why these people act the way they are is because the society expects them to act this way. And even though there might be non-aggressive football players or aggressive chess players, in general whatever the society expects is reflected in self-image of an individual and therefore in his / her identity development (LOIACANO, 23).
In conclusion, I would like to say that self-image, sex, and ethnicity are the constituent parts of the human identity development. These aspects can work either independently or concurrently and will drastically influence the persons behavior, habits and customs as well as their attitude to work, communication and relationship building. The examples shown in the essay unveil some of the possibilities how these aspects influence the human identity development. Bibliography: BARRETT, S. E. (1990) Paths toward diversity: An intra psychic perspective, Women & Therapy, 9 (1 / 2), pp. 41 - 52. CASS, V.
C. (1979) Homosexual identity formation: A theoretical model, Journal of Homosexuality, 4 (3), pp. 219 - 235. CASS, V. C. (1985) Homosexual identity: A concept in need of definitions, in: DeC ECCO, J. P. & SHIVELY, M.
G. (Eds. ) Origin of Sexuality and Homosexuality, pp. 105 - 126. (New York: Harrington Park Press). Cited in: SLATER, B. R. (1988) Essential issues in working with lesbian and gay male youth, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 19 (2), pp. 226 - 235. CHAN, C. S. (1989) Issues of identity development among Asian-American lesbians and gay men, Journal of Counseling & Development, 68, pp. 16 - 20. COLEMAN, E. (1982) Developmental stages of the coming out process, Journal of Psychology, 7 (2 / 3), pp. 31 - 43.
LOIACANO, D. K. (1989) Identity development, Journal of Counseling & Development, 68, pp. 21 - 25. SUE, D. W. (1981) Counseling the Culturally Different (New York: John Wiley & Sons) (Cited in: BARRETT S.
E. ibid).
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Research essay sample on Great Number Of People Identity Formation
