Identity Problem Among Malawian Adolescents

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DISCUSS THE IDENTITY PROBLEM OF ADOLESCENTS IN MALAWI AND SUGGEST WAYS OF RESOLVING THE CRISIS Identity problem also known as identity crisis is defined as the time of intensive analyisis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself. It may also be defined as a failure to achieve one's identity during adolescence. Erik Erikson was the first psychologist though to clearly state its meaning and implications. According to him, it is a period of psychological distress, often occuring in adolescence but sometimes in adulthood, when a person seeks a clearer sense of him/herself and an acceptance role in society. The stage of psychology development in which identity problem may occur is called the identity cohesion versus role confusion. During this stage, adolescents are faced with physical growth, sexual maturation and integrating ideas of themselves and what others think of them. Erikson's pschological development theory adds that, at this stage adolescents need to develop a sense of self and personal identity. successs leads to an ability to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self. Elkind (1970) on the other hand, believes that adolescents must integrate into a meaningful whole of all the roles that they have learned and should acquire a sense of psychology identity and if not successsful, they remain uncertain to who they are. Just as many other adolescents, in malawi adolescents also face this identity problem. this essay seeks to discuss this identity problem of adolescents and the ways of resolving the crisis. There are two kinds of identity crisis, namely; motivation crisis and legitimation crisis. In motivation crisis, the individual experiences a lack of guiding commitments but struggles to establish personal goals and values. Here adolescents always want to achieve a certain identity but due to different
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