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Reflection Paper: Finding Faith
Faith A. Sola
Liberty University
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Finding Faith
If you were to ask my parents how I was as an adolescent, they would say that I was fine,
for the most part. Like many Christian (and non-Christian) teenagers, I went through an identity
crisis between the ages of thirteen-which coincidentally is the year I returned to the public-school
system after three years of being homeschooled- to about nineteen. Additionally, I have always
been interested in learning why people decide to take specific actions, convey certain behaviors,
and treat others the way they do. I even questioned why I was depressed, insecure, but also had
such a necessity for the love of God and to serve others and why so many teenagers, like me,
asked the redundant underwhelming question of, “Who am I?” Fortunately, many researchers in
the field of developmental and adolescent psychology have answered (or at least have tried to)
those burning questions about teenage identity.
According to Moshman (2011), identity is an explicit theory of oneself; meaning that
identity is known to the individual it pertains to (explicit), is organized/coherent (non-random
information of oneself) and explanatory (explanations for one’s behaviors and ideals), and
regards oneself as a person through agency (engagement in actions), rationality (reasons for the
actions displayed), singularity, and continuity (unity of oneself across time and circumstance).
Moreover, Erik Erikson, a protégé of Sigmund Freud, researched the relationship between “self”
and the social realm. He proposed eight psycho-social stages that reflect the significant phases of
one’s life; most importantly, he proclaimed that during the step of adolescence, the adolescent is
consistently searching (i.e., in a state of moratorium, discussed later) for a sense of self and
personal identity through the intense exploration of own values, beliefs, and goals. On the other
hand, role confusion (i.e., identity crisis) leads to a state of pure unhappiness with oneself
(Erikson, 1950; Moshman, 2011a). Similarly, James Marcia expanded Erikson’s psychoanalytic
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theory and made it more quantitative, suggesting that adolescents are classified into four identity
statuses: identity diffused, identity foreclosed, identity moratorium, and identity achievement
(Moshman, 2011a).
Developmental Stages
When an adolescent is identity diffused, there are no firm commitments present, and there
is no search for any; identity foreclosed adolescents, however, have clear responsibilities, are
satisfied with choices and have no internal struggle with societal demand. An adolescent in
identity moratorium is in an unstable state of identity formation and are seeking to make new
commitments; finally, an adolescent in identity achievement has been able to make after active
exploration. However, the Meeus-Crocetti model states that there should be a fifth stage added to
the original identity statuses proposed by Marcia: seeking a moratorium (Meeus, van de Schoot,
Keijsers, & Branje, 2012). In this stage, there is high commitment, high in-depth exploration, and
reconsideration while maintaining an optimistic view of life. For myself, I do believe that I have
passed through all the identity statuses that Marcia and the Meeus-Crocetti model propose; but I
also think that it depended on the specific domain I am referring to (i.e., religion/spirituality,
school). Religiously, I grew up identity foreclosed as a Christian because that was the religion of
my family. It was not until adolescence when I wanted to search for more meaning and how
Christianity can affect me personality (identity moratorium), and I became content with that
years later (identity achieved). Similarly, academic achievement also correlated the same, I was
always a perfectionist and an over-achiever with school, probably because I am an only child,
and I have been the same since, not as extreme or self-negligent with myself, but I am pretty
identity foreclosed with academic achievement.
Gender and Environmental Factors
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Meeus and associates (2012) dictated that females have higher interpersonal identity
domain interactions than their male counterparts with higher institutional commitment,
achievement, and closure rates and well as lower rates in diffusion and moratorium identity
statuses. I think this is prevalent and accurate because females do mature faster than boys on
average and therefore, the prefrontal cortex (main structure for decision making and
coordination,) develops quicker in them than their counterparts.
I can relate this to my upbringing: I have always been thinking about my future
(profession, family, education) since early adolescence while many of my male friends did not
entertain the concept until they were graduating high school or even until after graduation,
although this is just the majority. I do think that can be culture related: I was born in the United
States, but my family is Cuban. I also live in Miami which is one of the most diverse cities in the
United States. Many of my friends are born and raised in different countries and immigrate to the
U.S. once they are in their teen years. Many (but not all) women in Latin-American/Hispanic
countries do not obtain a higher education because it is their sole stereotypical role to take care
of the household and because there are not enough opportunities. Although I do want to take care
of my future family and be a stay-at-home mother, women education in the U.S. is apparent,
pivotal, and rising.
Positive and Negative Experiences
An excerpt of Jane Kroger’s work in Moshman’s (2011) book depicted that there was a
correlation between identity statuses and personality characteristics. She states that identity
achievement adolescents portrayed the highest levels of self-control, self-esteem, self-certainty,
ego development, moral reasoning, intimacy, and interpersonal relationships. Moratorium
adolescents are the most anxious and fearful of success, although they do have high levels of ego
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development, moral reasoning, and self-esteem like identity achievement. Foreclosure identity
adolescents demonstrate the highest amounts of sound and socially stereotypical thinking,
obedience, and authority. Lastly, diffusion identity adolescents are the most diverse in terms of
personality characteristics showing the lowest levels of ego development, moral reasoning,
cognitive complexity, and cooperative abilities compared to their counterparts (Moshman,
2011b). Although these characteristics undermine their role when referring to different domains
(i.e., an individual cannot have high and low moral reasoning at the same time), they reflect the
emotions and peace I feel when I have identity achieved an aspect of my life.
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References
Erikson, E. (1950). Eight ages of man. In Childhood and Society (pp. 247–274). W.W. Nortan &
Company.
Meeus, W., van de Schoot, R., Keijsers, L., & Branje, S. (2012). Identity statuses as
developmental trajectories: A five-wave longitudinal study in early-to-middle and middle-
to-late adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(8), 1008–1021.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9730-y
Moshman, D. (2011a). Erikson’s theory of identity formation. In Adolescent Psychological
Development: Rational, Morality, and Development (3rd ed., pp. 117–128). Psychology
Press.
Moshman, D. (2011b). Identity as a theory of oneself. In Adolescent Psychological
Development: Rational, Morality, and Development (3rd ed., pp. 129–138). Psychology
Press.
