Identity (Psychology) in adolescence

A self-discrepancy is a cognitive incompatibility between a conception of the desired self and the perception of the actual self (Higgins, 1987; Rogers & Dymond, 1954). The purpose of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of the effects of gender self-discrepancies on the personal and social adjustment of preadolescent children. I propose that gender-related stereotypes and self-appraisals can be examined within a self-discrepancy framework. Preadolescent children (N=195) completed a variety of self- and peer-report questionnaires in the fall and spring of the school year. Children reported gender stereotypes and self-appraisals for four attributes (body image, athletics, dominance, and popularity). Measures of gender identity and of adjustment were also collected. Results suggested that children who possess a gender self discrepancy are at risk for maladjustment, especially internalizing difficulties and
victimization by both girls and boys.

In America today, adolescent boys do not have a structured, ritualized or guided passage
From boyhood into manhood. Many young men feel unsure of their manhood even at
an age that signifies the transition. This causes young males to need a self--‐created rite of
passage. Tramping, the act of travelling by train, hitchhiking or foot, is one way in which
young males can independently achieve manhood. This is a literary account of the lives
of Jack Kerouac, Chris McCandless, and Zebu Recchia. Their personal stories allow a detailed view of the advantages and disadvantages found in a self--‐created rite of passage. While two of the accounts are successful, in Chris McCandless’s case the rite ends in a transition to death.Tramping as a rite of passage to adulthood seems effective but the danger in self--‐ creation appears to be the lack of guidance that comes in unstructured rites of passage.

This thesis examined relations of multiple dimensions of gender identity same gender typicality, other-gender typicality, gender contentedness, gender oppression, felt pressure to conform, and gender centrality) to children's adjustment (global self-worth, narcissism, depression, internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, and prosocial behaviors. Participants were 237 fourth through eighth graders (108 males, 129 females; M[underscore] age = 11 years, 4 months). Each measure of gender identity related to children's adjustment in a unique way. Findings also showed gender centrality to moderate relations of other gender identity variables to adjustment, suggesting that how central gender is to a child influences the impact of other gender self-appraisals on the child's development and adjustment.

This study examined the consequences of self-image failure among narcissistic children. It was hypothesized that narcissistic children who perceive themselves as falling short of their hoped-for grandiose self (e.g., whose self-esteem is low) would not only increase over time in general aggression and decrease prosocial behavior, but also increase in the tendency to direct aggression specifically toward more socially successful peers (i.e., their putative rivals for social status). Participants were 195 (101 boys) fourth through seventh-graders who were tested in both the fall and the spring of a school year. Results yielded some support for the hypotheses. Narcissism combined with low self-appraisals of the real self to predict decreases in prosocial behavior and increased aggression toward popular and attractive peers. These findings not only provide longitudinal evidence for the self-image failure hypothesis but also underscore the importance of a target-specific approach to investigating children's aggression.

The fact that 45% of boys and 32% of girls in the United States participate in youth sports suggests that sports participation might be an important influence on children's psychosocial development. This study explored: (1) how children's gender cognitions influence sports self-efficacy and (2) how sports self-efficacy influences children's psychosocial adjustment. Results suggest that for boys, felt pressure to conform to gender standards and the belief that sports is important for boys influence sports self-efficacy. In girls, both the belief that sports is important for girls and the belief that sports is important for boys predicted sports self-efficacy. Sports self-efficacy predicted benefits for girls adjustment (high self-esteem, higher body satisfaction, lower depression and lower anxiety) but both positive and negative outcomes for boys (higher narcissism, higher aggression, and lower depression and lower anxiety). The findings overall suggest that the correlates of sports self-efficacy are somewhat different for boys and for girls.