Identity: An International Journal of theory and Research

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Identity and Psychosocial Development in

Adulthood

James E. Marcia

To cite this article: James E. Marcia (2002) Identity and Psychosocial Development in
Adulthood, Identity: An International Journal of theory and Research, 2:1, 7-28, DOI: 10.1207/
S1532706XID0201_02

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IDENTITY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY AND RESEARCH, 2(1), 7–28
Copyright © 2002 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Identity and Psychosocial

Development in Adulthood
James E. Marcia

Department of Psychology
Simon Fraser University

Psychosocial development in adulthood is viewed from several perspectives.

Stage-specific crises in ego growth associated with different life cycle periods are ad-
dressed in terms of status measures expanding on Erikson’s polar alternative resolu-
tions (Erikson, 1959). The developmental linkages between these stages are
discussed using these status measures, and development from one status to another
within a particular psychosocial stage is examined. With respect to identity itself, the
cyclical process that might describe identity re-formulation through the adult
psychosocial stages is discussed and illustrated. Finally, 2 case studies are presented
as examples of adult psychosocial development.

Research on identity began a number of years ago when we were concerned with it
primarily as a stage-specific crisis of late adolescence, the period in the life cycle
that Erikson had designated as crucial for identity development (Erikson, 1959).
Work on identity in adolescence has continued until the present. More recently, re-
searchers have considered the development of identity throughout the stages of
adulthood. Erikson proposed that each psychosocial period, or stage, has both pre-
cursors as well as successors, so there is an identity issue at each life cycle period
following late adolescence, in addition to the main issues of those periods
(Erikson, 1959). Hence, one may ask what identity looks like at young adulthood,
at middle age, and at old age. Over the past 30 years, my students and I have also
been concerned with developing measures of the adult life cycle stages succeeding
identity.

Requests for reprints should be sent to James E. Marcia, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University,
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5A 1S6. E-mail: j_marcia@sfu.ca
8 MARCIA

In this article, I discuss first the measures that we have developed of the adult
psychosocial stages following late adolescence. Similar to the measures of iden-
tity, these follow a status paradigm, although here they refer to different positions
on “intimacy,” “generativity,” and “integrity.” The status paradigm refers to speci-
fying midpoints or alternative resolutions to psychosocial crises, in addition to the
polar alternatives described by Erikson. After describing these psychosocial sta-
tuses, I discuss possible developmental linkages between the identity statuses at
late adolescence and the different statuses at subsequent psychosocial stages.
Next, I outline some possibilities for development within statuses at given life cy-
cle periods. That is, there may be a movement from status to status within a partic-
ular psychosocial period. In the next section, I suggest a pattern for identity
development through the adult psychosocial stages. This is based on both the crite-
ria for the first identity formation at late adolescence—exploration and commit-
ment—and the cognitive developmental concepts of disequilibration and
accommodation. Then, I pose some questions about the relative contribution of
identity development itself to adult psychosocial stage resolution. Finally, I dis-
cuss two case histories that illustrate both psychosocial development in adulthood
as well as some of our adult psychosocial statuses.
To follow the progress of our research, it is useful to refer to an expanded version
of Erikson’s (e.g., 1968) epigenetic chart of psychosocial development (Marcia,
1994, 1998). This chart may be read diagonally to locate the primary developmental
issue of a particular life cycle period (e.g., generativity at middle age), horizontally
to indicate the cumulative psychosocial issues an individual is dealing with at each
subsequent stage (e.g., basic trust–mistrust, autonomy–shame, doubt, etc. during the
intimacy stage), and vertically to identify forerunners of developmental issues to
come and legacies of previously encountered issues (e.g., identity at play age, which
might have to do with gender role; identity at old age, which might concern one’s
view of oneself as “elder”). I have discussed some of the clinical implications of
these different readings of Erikson’s developmental chart elsewhere (Marcia, 1994,
1998, 1999).

ADULT PSYCHOSOCIAL STATUSES

Our research on developing and validating measures of adult Eriksonian stages has
followed the same general paradigm that I employed with identity. We read every-
thing that Erikson had written about these stages; constructed criteria for the suc-
cessful and unsuccessful resolution of these stages, based on Erikson’s theory; and
formulated an initial interview. At the time we did this, questionnaire measures al-
ready existed for all three postadolescent stages. However, we felt that our interview
measures better captured the depth and complexity of Erikson’s thought. Rather
than asking research participants just to endorse statements which we had con-
structed, we asked them to describe their experiences in their own words.
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 9

In all cases, pilot studies using the initial interview indicated that research partici-
pants had different styles of addressing the particular stages. These were more dif-
ferentiated than the polar alternatives proposed by Erikson, but they incorporated
them. Hence, as with identity, we identified different resolution patterns, or “sta-
tuses,” to capture participants’ different approaches to specific psychosocial tasks.
In addition to helping us comprehend more accurately our research participants’ ex-
periences, our interview measures allowed us to do more than just establish quanti-
tatively high-low standings on stage resolution. We were able to characterize
different styles of stage resolution, which could still be ordered along some kind of
high-low continuum. Each pattern is a resolution, sometimes permanent, sometimes
temporary, that represents an individual’s resolution of a stage at the time of the in-
terview. If one were to place these statuses within the original Eriksonian diagonal
squares, they would simply expand the implied polar alternatives so that, at the in-
tegrity stage, for example, rather than containing just integrity versus despair, the
square would incorporate integrated, nonexploratory, pseudointegrated, and de-
spairing, thus preserving the original polar alternatives as well as adding intermedi-
ate resolution possibilities. Hence, we retain fidelity to Erikson’s theory, at the same
time capturing more fully our participants’ experiences.
After formulating different statuses, we revised the interviews to include ques-
tions appropriate for better identifying these alternative resolutions, and we devel-
oped scoring manuals. After more interviews, we established interscorer
reliability, and further revised both the interviews and the scoring manuals. We
then undertook validity studies, using the existing questionnaire measures to es-
tablish concurrent validity for the new statuses. I then examined relationships of
the obtained status measures to other relevant measures that were theoretically
linked to, but not identical to, the construct under investigation, and looked at addi-
tional measures not directly related to the content of the stages to demonstrate con-
vergent and discriminant construct validity. After the initial validating studies,
additional studies were undertaken to extend the constructs’ nomological net-
works. In this fashion, Erikson’s ideas about adult psychosocial development were
made empirically testable and further theoretically enriched by virtue of an ex-
panded realm of correlates. This procedure follows the generally accepted outlines
for establishing construct validity (Bartholomew, Henderson, & Marcia, 2000;
Cronbach & Meehl, 1955).

Intimacy
In 1973, Orlofsky, Marcia, and Lesser developed an interview measure of inti-
macy that located young adults in one of five intimacy statuses, based on the crite-
ria of depth and commitment in relationships. These intimacy statuses are
described briefly as follows. Intimate persons value depth in relationships, as op-
posed to shallowness, and are capable of being committed for long periods of time.
Preintimate individuals are similar to intimate ones, except that they do not cur-
10 MARCIA

rently find themselves in a relationship in which their values and capacities can be
realized. Those who are called pseudointimate are in relationships that have the
appearance of intimacy but lack intimate substance. For example, the individual
might be married (an intimate form) but have a shallow relationship with his or her
partner. Stereotyped persons are involved in superficial dating relationships and
have no particular interest in either depth or longevity of contacts with others.
Those who are isolated eschew relationships altogether, either by choice or by ne-
cessity. Validity for these intimacy statuses has been established in a number of
studies reviewed by Orlofsky (Orlofsky, 1993). In two of these studies (Orlofsky,
Marcia, & Lesser, 1973; Schiedel & Marcia, 1985), a relationship was established
between the intimacy statuses and the identity statuses. I return to this point later in
the article when integrating findings for identity with subsequent life cycle stage
resolutions.

Generativity
The next status measure to be developed involved the psychosocial stage of
generativity. In 1997, Bradley developed an interview and scoring manual using
the criteria of inclusivity (who and what qualifies for one’s care, including oneself)
and vital involvement (in the care for others, for one’s projects, and for oneself).
Five generativity statuses appeared to capture the experiences of most of her re-
search participants. Generative persons were broad in their inclusion of others and
projects that qualified for their care, and they were vitally involved in caregiving
behaviors. Those designated as pseudogenerative fell into two categories: agentic
and communal. Agentic persons were generative to others as long as those others
would aid the agentic individual in his or her particular projects. When such aid
was not forthcoming, the care tap was turned off. Communal individuals ex-
pressed their caring by being extraordinarily nurturant, but only as long as the re-
cipient acknowledged the care with a sufficient display of gratitude. Conventional
individuals restricted the scope of their caring to just those others who behaved
and believed consistently with the conventional person’s own values. When others
strayed from these values, they were disqualified from care. Finally, stagnant indi-
viduals seemed uninvolved both with others and with personally meaningful pro-
jects. Construct validity for these generativity statuses was established in several
studies (Bradley, 1997; Bradley & Marcia, 1998).

Integrity

In 1993, Hearn constructed four integrity statuses applicable to elders. The criteria
for these statuses were expanded and revised in 1998 by Saulnier. These statuses,
which bear some similarity to those of Walaskay, Whitbourne, and Nehrke
(1983–1984), are based on the criteria of commitment (to beliefs and ideals),
connectedness and continuity (to others, past and present), and detachment
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 11

(nonegoistic involvement). Integrated persons were committed to a set of beliefs,

felt connected to others currently and historically, and appeared wise in their per-
spectives on life. Nonexploratory individuals lived largely unexamined lives.
Their concerns were fairly parochial and their life perspectives limited, although
they did seem solid in their commitments and relatively self-satisfied.
Pseudointegrated people appeared to be patching their lives together with
quasi-philosophical slogans, beneath which one sensed a growing feeling of disil-
lusionment, disgust, and despair. Those nominated as despairing lacked consis-
tent beliefs, felt unconnected with others, and, in some cases, even appeared
unconcerned with their own survival. Thus far, three studies have been completed
validating these new integrity statuses (see Hearn et al., 2001). One of these indi-
cated a relationship between identity, measured in adulthood (following Archer &
Waterman, 1993), and integrity. The next section outlines some hypothesized fur-
ther developmental connections between the statuses at different life-span points.

POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCES

The rows in Table 1 indicate some possible developmental linkages between the
identity statuses and succeeding adult developmental statuses. In all cases, these are
general predictions and refer to overall group expectations. Because of different life
vicissitudes in individual circumstances, people might differ widely in their pro-
gressions. However, the expectations are presented here to illustrate the statuses,
their theoretical placement, and their putative consequences. In Row 1, consistent
with Erikson’s epigenetic focus, one might expect those who are identity achieved at

TABLE 1
Developmental Links Between Identity Statuses and Adult Psychosocial Stages
Identity/Identity Generativity-Stagnation,
Diffusion Intimacy/Isolation Absorbtion Integrity/Despair
Exploration, Depth and Commit- Inclusivity and Involve- Commitment to
Commitment ment in Relationships ment in Care for Others, Values and Beliefs,
(Orlofsky) Projects, and Oneself Continuity With
(Bradley) Others and One’s Past,
and Nonegoistic
Detachment
(Hearn, Saulnier)
Identity achievement Intimate Generative Integrity
Moratorium Preintimate Pseudogenerative Nonexploratory
Agentic
Communal
Foreclosure Pseudointimate Conventional Pseudointegrated
Identity diffusion Stereotyped Stagnant Despairing
Isolated
12 MARCIA

late adolescence to go on to become intimate in young adulthood, generative at mid-

dle age, and integrated in old age. Identity at late adolescence gives one a secure
sense of self-definition so that one can risk vulnerability and mutuality with another
without fear of surrendering or losing oneself. Moving from intimacy to
generativity, one finds that the establishment of an intimate connection with another
or others provides both an interpersonal scaffolding and a source of emotional sup-
port as the individual embarks full-time on care for others during middle age. A
sense of generativity, in turn, furnishes the aging individual with a solid body of
achievements that can help mitigate some of the inevitable disintegrative effects of
older age, and provides him or her with a well-earned pool of self-maintaining rela-
tionships. Thus far, we have established empirically only relationships between iden-
tity and intimacy and between identity and integrity (Hearn et al., 2001). However,
this research, as well as that referred to later, is cross-sectional, not longitudinal.
In Row 2, the connections are more phenotypic than developmental. What all of
these statuses might have in common is their transitional quality. The moratorium
identity status is usually a transitional one, in most cases leading to identity
achievement. Similarly, one would expect preintimate persons to become intimate
eventually. Pseudogenerative statuses might be transitional to generative. Hence,
the linkage among statuses in Row 2 is descriptive (i.e., all of them may be transi-
tional) rather than indicative of a progression.
In Rows 3 and 4, there is a return to a possible developmental pathway. Foreclo-
sure persons at adolescence who have not undergone an exploratory period might
be expected to form pseudointimate relationships at young adulthood. These
would be relationships that had the form but not the content of intimate relation-
ships. Such persons would likely marry those who were “suitable” for them and
fulfill judiciously their expected spousal roles. However, just as their identities
lack a self-reflective depth, so might their intimate relationships. At adulthood,
they might be quite caring for others, but only as long as those others remained
within the relatively narrow compass of the foreclosed–pseudointimate person’s
own unexplored, unchanged values. Hence, they might be seen in middle age as
conventional. Finally, along the same pathway, one might imagine these conven-
tional persons at old age to be fairly content in the lives they had always lived, but
with little appreciation or approval of the lives of differing others. We might see
them as nonexploratory during this last psychosocial stage.
The most pessimistic note is struck by Row 4, wherein individuals exhibiting
identity diffusion at late adolescence might find themselves in either a stereotyped
or isolated position at young adulthood. Identity diffusion could predispose one to
view others either in terms of cultural clichés (“Well, you know what women
[men] are like!”) or as unattainable for contact (recalling the Simon and Garfunkel
lyric, “I am a rock; I am an island. … I touch no one and no one touches me”; Si-
mon, 1965). Those who find themselves thus isolated in young adulthood might be
expected to carry this through to a sense of personal and interpersonal stagnation at
middle age. It is difficult to give and receive care, to others and for oneself, if one
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 13

feels isolated from others. Finally, stagnation at middle age could be linked with
pseudointegratedness (i.e., incipient despair just below the surface) and despair
proper at old age. Having perceived oneself to have generated little or nothing, one
is likely to see one’s life as a psychosocial desert when one reviews it in later years.
Empirically, we do have some work showing that there is a relationship between
the foreclosure identity statuses and the non-exploratory integrity status, as well as
between the diffuse identity status and both the pseudointegrated and despairing
integrity statuses (Hearn et al., 2001).
The aforementioned hypotheses remain, for the most part, only hypotheses.
One of the most compelling aspects of Erikson’s model is that it allows for the indi-
vidual to “catch up” on the resolution of previously unresolved or negatively re-
solved stages at any time. However, this usually requires the provision of better
than average expectable conditions at periods later than the indicated “normal” life
cycle time (see Marcia, 1998). Much empirical work remains to be done here. At
least we now have the necessary tools—measures of identity, intimacy,
generativity, and integrity—with which to do the longitudinal work.

DEVELOPMENT WITHIN PARTICULAR

PSYCHOSOCIAL STATUSES

In addition to the proposed developmental sequences among statuses along the di-
agonal of Erikson’s (1968) epigenetic chart, the status approach allows us to look
at some possible developmental sequences within the particular stages themselves
(see the columns in Table 1). During late adolescence, some foreclosure and mora-
torium individuals should become identity achieved. Among foreclosure persons,
this would be expected for those who are developmental as contrasted with firm
foreclosures (Marcia, 1980). The former are likely to move from their early posi-
tions to more advanced ones; the latter are likely to remain immune to potentially
disequilibrating events because of their cognitive structures and styles, made rigid
by the expected emotional price of exploration. Most moratorium individuals
would be expected to advance to identity achievement given an average
expectable environment. However, they might regress to either foreclosure or dif-
fusion if their exploratory attempts are punished or discouraged.
At young adulthood, some stereotyped persons, on gaining more relational ex-
perience, might be expected to become intimate. Most preintimate persons could
be expected to become intimate unless they meet with disastrous relationship ex-
periences.
At middle age, some individuals in the pseudogenerative statuses might become
generative. For example, agentic persons may realize the limits of egocentric ambi-
tion and come to prize mentoring relationships as a more fulfilling form of
generativity than sheer productivity. Communal persons may discover the limits of
self-sacrifice and others’ gratitude and may exchange martyrdom for self-care.
14 MARCIA

At this time, I can see few opportunities for development within the integrity sta-
tuses. If individuals have been nonexploratory in their approaches to previous
psychosocial stages, especially to identity as it has arisen in young adulthood and
middle age, I do not think that they are going to risk their peace of mind in older age.
The pseudointegrated position seems to be a defensive one, and, given that the threat
involved is the awareness of ultimate disintegration and death, I do not think that
pseudointegrated individuals can undertake the self-examination necessary to move
to integration. Essentially, they are doing the best they can. Despairing individuals
have clearly given up the struggle of life. The only room for development at older
age appears to me to be the deepening of the integrative process itself.
As with most of the hypothesized diagonal relationships, these intrastage se-
quences have not been established empirically, except in a general way for iden-
tity, for which there is an overall trend toward the higher statuses with age (see
Waterman, 1999). Clearly, the most compelling way in which to investigate the
proposed developmental sequences, both along the diagonal and within a particu-
lar stage, would be to follow a late adolescent from initial identity resolution
through changes in identity status, to intimacy formation and through changes in
intimacy status, on to generativity and through these statuses, and thence to integ-
rity development. This is a pretty long haul. Two ways in which it might be accom-
plished within a researcher’s lifetime are by means of archival data, or
retrospective studies, although neither of these is a substitute for thorough longitu-
dinal work.

IDENTITY RECONSTRUCTION AT ADULT

PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES

The foregoing deals largely with the diagonal aspect of Erikson’s theory. How-
ever, the vertical is also of interest. How does identity itself change as one tra-
verses the subsequent life cycle stages? These are issues the other authors in this
issue have both studied and written about. I would like to offer my view of how this
process might proceed.
The first identity, formed at late adolescence, is constructed both consciously
and unconsciously from the part-identifications of childhood as they are experi-
enced by the individual in his or her socialization contexts and imagined future
(Erikson, 1959). Because there is no organized childhood identity to deconstruct,
this initial identity formation process is largely a matter of construction: of deci-
sion making and eventual synthesis of chosen parts. However, after that first iden-
tity, succeeding ones (for identity achievement persons, that is) involve successive
disequilibrations of existing identity structures, beginning with the initial one
formed at late adolescence (see also Whitbourne, Sneed, & Skultety, this issue).
Normal, expectable disequilibrating events are those associated with each of
the succeeding life cycle stages. Each stage involves a re-formulation of identity
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 15

as one responds to the demands and rewards of each developmental era. The
expectable identities involve partnership; friendship at young adulthood, with its
demands for intimacy; mentorship at middle age, with its generative requirements;
and eldership at older age, with its opportunities for integrity. As one enters each
of these psychosocial stages, an identity reconstruction can be expected. The
aforementioned changes in psychosocial position are not restricted in scope to
one’s immediate family. I intend them to refer broadly to the human family.
Hence, being a partner or a friend, a mentor or a parent, or an elder is a metaphor re-
ferring to the quality of one’s self-awareness and psychosocial stance in the world
as one moves through the ages of young adulthood, middle age, and old age.
In most of our lives, there are disequilibrating circumstances in addition to the
normal, expectable ones. These could be life events such as divorce, falling in
love, job loss, job promotion, positive and negative reversals in fortune, retire-
ment, spiritual crises, and the loss of loved ones. As with attempts to define stress,
one has to look at what is disequilibrating for the particular individual. Not all di-
vorces, job promotions, and so forth are disequilibrating for all people. Again, we
are thrown back on an individual-by-individual approach. In the case of adults ex-
hibiting foreclosure, we are dealing with people who have developed a personality
structure whose purpose is to prevent disequilibration. When foreclosure individ-
uals do experience disequilibration in adulthood, it is likely to be a shattering expe-
rience for them. Identity diffusion individuals are resistant to disequilibration
because they lack a solid identity structure to begin with (Kroger, 2000).
I would like to offer a possible model, based on the identity statuses, for the
identity reconstruction process that occurs during adulthood. Figure 1 represents
the round of identity statuses one might traverse as one undergoes identity recon-
struction throughout the life cycle stages of adulthood. Identity might be expected
to undergo cyclical re-formulation at least three times following adolescence, and
likely more often as the individual is confronted with identity-disequilibrating
events. These re-formulation periods are what we have referred to as morato-
rium-achievement-moratorium-achievement (MAMA) cycles (Stephen, Fraser,
& Marcia, 1992). Even though only three cycles are shown in the diagram, one
would expect a new cycle every time a significant disequilibrating event occurred.
During each of these cycles, the individual may regress to earlier identity modes
(Bilsker & Marcia, 1990). For example, one may experience brief periods of diffu-
sion when the current identity structure is being disequilibrated. The person may feel
confused and scattered, behave impulsively, look for support in inappropriate
places, become “irresponsible,” “unreliable,” and “unpredictable.” This may be suf-
ficiently distressing that the individual enters counseling or psychotherapy. How-
ever, this is regression with a purpose: to permit the previous structure to fall apart so
that a new structure can emerge. So-called midlife crises ought not to be taken
lightly or dismissed; they are important developmental steps, necessary to be taken
in the service of identity reconstruction. In addition to experiencing a period of dif-
fusion, the person may also return to previous identity contents, even to periods of
16 MARCIA

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT CYCLES

IN ADULTHOOD

LATE Ac INTEGRITY
hiev m
ADULTHOOD e m e nt ori u / DESPAIR
(Diffussion, Foreclosure) Morat

Achievement
GENERATIVITY
MIDDLE Ac / STAGNATION,
.
ADULTHOOD h i ev
e m e nt Mor SELF-ABSORPTION
(Diff., Fore.)

Achievement

EARLY Ac . INTIMACY / ISOLATION

ADULTHOOD
hieve
. (Diff., Fore.) Mor

Achievement
F o re
(Diff.) M o r.
LATE IDENTITY / IDENTITY
ADOLESCENCE DIFFUSION

= Entry into cycle

Figure 1. Identity development cycles in adulthood.

apparently preemptive commitment to them. In other words, the individual may

cycle briefly through a foreclosure phase. Again, this is part of the regressive pro-
cess. Ultimately, if the disequilibrated identity fell well within the iden-
tity-achieved status, the person would be expected to enter an actively searching
moratorium period (see Berzonsky, 1989), wherein she or he would begin to ex-
plore alternatives and to make tentative commitments, eventuating in a new iden-
tity-achieved identity structure.
The length of these MAMA cycles would differ according to the individual and
the surrounding social context. They could be as short as 6 months or as long as 10
years. I think that as one gets older, the cycles might be longer. One does not relin-
quish a hard-won identity easily. There are external pressures from friends, family,
and colleagues, as well as internal pressures from one’s expectations of oneself, to
remain the same, to be consistent. It requires more courage to re-formulate an iden-
tity when one is 40 or 60 than when one is 25.
Although the re-formulated identity is to some extent a new one, it is continuous
with, and has similar qualities to, the identity that preceded it. “Transformation”
may be possible for a few individuals, but for most of us, identity change looks
more like a gradual evolution of previous forms (see Flum, 1990). Consistent with
a cognitive developmental perspective (Kegan, 1982; Piaget, 1954), each recon-
structed identity structure accommodates a wider range of the individual’s experi-
ences than did the previous one. Identities become broader and more inclusive.
Thus, the cone shape of the diagram represents the increasingly wider range of ex-
periences subsumed by the new identity structure (Kelly, 1955). With the passage
of lifetime and experience, identities become deeper and richer. This is repre-
sented in the diagram by both the increase in the volume of the figure and the deep-
ening of the hue. The individual becomes more and more who she or he truly is as
previously undeveloped elements of the personality become realized and new
ones become added. This is similar to the Jungian (Jung, 1959) processes of indi-
viduation and transcendence. (It is noteworthy that in one of his last articles,
Erikson, 1996, uses various forms of the word numinous in describing a sense of
“I.” This is a frequently used Jungian concept.)
That identity might recycle through the statuses every time there is a
disequilibration of an existing identity structure raises the question posed a num-
ber of years ago by Patricia Raskin (personal communication, June, 1981): Is iden-
tity status a state or a trait? My answer: I think it can be both. Every status can be
either a phase through which the individual is passing or a relatively permanent
condition. One may be a middle adolescent at foreclosure on the way to morato-
rium (state and trait), or an adult at foreclosure only temporarily as part of a cre-
ative regression on the way to a new level of identity achievement (state), or
essentially the same (foreclosed) person at age 50 that he or she was at age 11
(trait). This issue is especially important in considering moratorium, which for
most people is a transitional state. However, there are some persons (called
“characterological moratoriums”) for whom being in an identity crisis is a lifelong
pattern and, hence, a trait (Marcia, 1980). One could make similar examples of the
other two identity statuses, except that achievement and diffusion are much more
likely to be traits because they represent developmental endpoints more than mor-
atorium and foreclosure do. When it comes to the identity statuses, the difference
between trait and state seems to be a function of the duration of the classification
for an individual. This is similar to considerations of process versus structure,
which Rapaport (1961) resolved by referring to structure as a process with a slow
rate of change.

IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITY TO ADULT

PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGE RESOLUTION

The cone diagram described earlier presents a possible picture of the process of
vertical identity development through the adult portion of the life cycle. Related
to this is the question of how important identity at a particular adult psychosocial
stage is to the resolution of that stage. How much variance in, say, one’s sense of

17
18 MARCIA

generativity is accounted for by one’s identity as a generative person (the men-

tor–parent referred to earlier), and how much is accounted for by the
generativity–stagnation, self-absorption resolution per se? With respect to the
7th row and 5th column of Erikson’s (1968; Marcia, 1994, 1998) epigenetic
chart of psychosocial development (identity at generativity), if we fashioned a
measure to look only at this square—at one’s identity as a generative person at
middle age—would we know almost as much about his or her resolution of that
stage as we do by looking, as we have, specifically at the aspects of generativity
proper (i.e., the 7th square in that row) as described by Erikson? That progres-
sion in identity itself could account for much of intimacy, generativity, and in-
tegrity resolution is especially likely if identity is, in fact, a structure as we have
proposed. Certainly, there is an impact on identity as one grapples with issues of
generativity, but there might be an even greater influence on generativity as one
comes to experience, evaluate, and define oneself more and more as a generative
person.
Another possibility is that the resolution of, say, generativity–stagnation,
self-absorption, involves or incorporates the resolutions of all the part-stages
along the horizontal (i.e., trust, autonomy, etc.) and their synthesis into the new
sense of generativity. Thus far, we have looked only at generativity, per se, without
including these other stage re-resolutions that are co-occurring.
Clinically, it is more likely that one will experience a crisis of identity when
confronted with one of the adult stages than just the content of that particular stage.
One is more likely to feel strongly about perceptions such as “I’m a lousy parent”
than those such as “I’m not being truly caring.” An identity crisis in one’s
self-definition as a parent is more likely to be threatened by a mutinous teenager
than one’s more diffuse sense of generativity is. Identity, because it is a structure, is
more pervasive in its influence and emotionally closer to the bone than the
“senses” of intimacy, generativity, and integrity. Identity involves who one is. The
adult psychosocial stages describe how one does a stage-specific issue (e.g.,
preintimately, conventionally, or pseudointegratedly), but they do not have the
structural properties of identity.
That said, it is likely to be the content of a given stage that will set up some of the
disequilibrating events that threaten an identity structure at a particular time. For
example, crises in identity are more likely to involve intimacy issues during young
adulthood, generativity issues in middle age, and integrity issues at older age.
Such identity crises do not spring from cognitive dissonance alone. They arise
from emotional distress (see also Strayer, this issue). It is not the fact of role incon-
sistency that concerns people, it is the discomfort it causes when they find them-
selves torn between incompatible alternatives. The psychosocial issues
characterizing the adult stages were called “crises” in ego growth by Erikson for
good reason. They are the vulnerable growing points where things can go either
way, and their content derives from issues to which most individuals at a particular
age would be especially sensitive.
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 19

Again, at least we have the beginnings of the tools necessary to assess the rela-
tive contributions identity makes at a particular age, as contrasted with the impor-
tance of the content of that stage itself. The content of the psychosocial status
interviews for the adult stages is such that one could pull out identity-relevant
questions and criteria. Then one could add additional material and incorporate the
identity “exploration and commitment” criteria. Finally, one could then determine
the relative contribution identity makes at a stage (versus the stage content itself)
to variance in relevant dependent variables.

The Case of Jack

I would like to introduce the story of a patient of mine whom I saw over a period of
about 7 years, beginning when he was 53. As I describe the case, I would like read-
ers to consider the diagrams I have presented. Jack (not his real name) was the old-
est of three brothers and grew up in a middle-class, Roman Catholic family. His
mother was a school teacher—a rather strict one whom some of her students nick-
named “the little tyrant.” She retained her vitality into her early 80s (she enjoyed a
hot-air balloon ride for her 80th birthday). Throughout her life, she took an active
interest in the arts, especially drama. Jack’s father was an advertising copywriter
who had always aspired to greater literary heights. He was an extraordinarily con-
scientious person who was plagued by depressive episodes throughout his life. He
killed himself when he was 53 and Jack was 21. Jack was called out of a college
class and informed of his father’s death. The suicide was kept secret from the other
brothers, as well as from everyone else, by a conspiracy between Jack’s mother
and himself. It was referred to, with a kind of poignant aptness, as a “heart failure.”
This potentially disequilibrating event was not experienced as such by Jack at the
time; however, it haunted him and was one of the reasons for his entering therapy
at age 53(!).
Jack was a popular teenager and was active in a Christian youth group in his
school even though he had drifted away from his Roman Catholic roots. He sang in
choruses and played rugby. Although administering an identity status interview
was not part of therapy, I found that Jack was likely a foreclosure (primarily on his
mother) at late adolescence, with some elements of identity achievement.
After attending three rather prestigious universities in his own country, Canada,
and two foreign ones, Jack developed a career as a middle manager in a resources
industry. While at postgraduate school abroad, he got married. Given Jack’s lim-
ited knowledge of his wife’s native language as well as his different cultural back-
ground, this union was a tribute to his fondness for adventure and his willingness
to take chances. His interest in other cultures persisted into his adulthood, so that
he came to feel at ease in other ethnic contexts, becoming close friends with In-
dian, Iranian, Chinese, and Barbadian persons. Prefiguring integrity despite his
tendency toward being foreclosed, he seemed not to be headed for a
nonexploratory status.
20 MARCIA

Perhaps because Jack was likely more foreclosed than identity achieved at
the end of late adolescence, intimacy was problematic. Intimacy might have
been further jeopardized because of his defenses of repression and denial (typi-
cally foreclosed), initiated or augmented by his father’s suicide. He became
quite career focused, and the relationship between him and his wife deterio-
rated after he discovered that, in the face of his neglect, she had been having an
affair. They did not go into counseling to try to repair the relationship. There
was a preemptive side to Jack, again some of that foreclosure aspect. He could
be quite arbitrary when it came to excising people from his life who crossed
him, or, to use his words, who “disappointed” him. After 12 years of marriage,
Jack and his wife divorced. His intimacy status in young adulthood had likely
been pseudointimate.
Jack and his wife had two children: a boy who was very bright but subject to
depressive episodes (recalling his grandfather), and a girl who eventually be-
came interested in the arts. Jack’s reaction to the possibly disequilibrating effects
of his divorce was to retrench (i.e., assimilate) and to assume almost total care for
his two adolescent children for about the next 10 years. During this time, he put
on hold any serious relationships with women. He did have some affairs, but
these were with women who were geographically distant or not really available
for long-term relationships. However, he would have no women stay over in his
house. It may be difficult to imagine a vital, energetic, attractive, and interesting
man putting his sexual intimacy on hold for 10 years. However, his lack of sexual
intimacy is understandable in light of those foreclosure defenses of repression
and denial, coupled with the more adaptive one of sublimation (into work,
childrearing, and activity in various arts organizations), as well as with his
wounded feeling from his failed marriage. Given the self-sacrificing nature of
Jack’s almost total devotion to his children, his approach to generativity would
be described as primarily pseudogenerative communal with some minor ele-
ments of conventional.
As we follow Jack through his life until the time he enters therapy, we should re-
member that there are two traumatic events whose effects on identity have re-
mained largely undealt with: his father’s suicide, and his failures in intimacy as
reflected in his relatively unexamined marriage dissolution. Because he had the
defenses necessary to keep these events psychologically encapsulated, Jack might
well have lived out the rest of his life in a fairly constricted, socially appropriate
fashion. However, his liveliness, curiosity, and integrity made him ripe for what
happened next.
What happened next was a job loss and, more important, Sarah. At age 50, Jack
was let go from his job in the resources sector because of a corporate restructuring.
He adapted well to this (although emotionally he never fully dealt with the loss of a
position he had occupied for 15 years) by becoming an organizational consultant
as well as a partner in a venture capital company. He continued to be active on the
boards of several arts organizations.
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 21

It was Sarah, a business colleague with whom he fell precipitously in love, who ini-
tiated his midlife identity crisis. Recall that Jack had not had any significant relation-
ships during the period of his children’s adolescence, saying that he had preferred to
devote his energy to their upbringing. Frequently, he used the words appropriate and
inappropriate in referring to relationships with women. He described Sarah as “neu-
rotic, but really bright,” and, as he was fond of saying, he always preferred women
who were “struggling.” (Jack, who had played rugby in his youth, was celebrated
among his teammates as being remarkably insensitive to pain.)
Sarah seriously challenged many of Jack’s ideas about himself, about sexuality,
and about his rather conventional philosophy of life. Although she was somewhat
unstable, she was emotionally compelling, verbally adept, and, ultimately, unat-
tainable enough that she constituted the disequilibrating event that neither his fa-
ther’s suicide, his marriage breakup, nor his job loss had. I entered Jack’s life as the
relationship with Sarah was painfully dissolving. Because of the emotional dam
that Sarah had breached in him, Jack found himself also grieving and angry over
his father’s suicide.
At age 53, Jack was simultaneously confronting issues of identity, intimacy,
and generativity. He had always seen himself as a fairly rational person, more con-
cerned with being “responsible” than being passionate. He came to question seri-
ously his capacity for intimacy, given his rejection by his wife and then by Sarah.
And, finally, he even had to come to terms with the way he had done generativity.
His children were getting on with their own lives, more or less, and would not be
available to meet his attachment needs much longer.
In therapy, we worked on a number of these issues, including his views about
appropriateness and his belief that women were doing him a favor by having a sex-
ual relationship with him. This attitude had led him to treat women as if they were a
separate species, strange and inscrutable, not quite people. As he began to see them
as less mysterious, aided by his dropping some of his puritanical views, he soon
found himself with all the relationships he could handle.
We addressed his father’s suicide in a rather unusual fashion. I asked him to
write a letter to his father. It took him 2 years to do this, but when it was done and I
read the letter aloud to him during a particularly moving session, the issue seemed
resolved. He came to terms with why his father might have felt that he had little
choice but to kill himself, and he was also able to exonerate himself from responsi-
bility for his father’s death. In addition, he was able to tell his father of his achieve-
ments since the suicide and to at least fantasize a paternal blessing.
Then Jack’s mother died. The removal of this final support for his foreclosed
identity exacerbated the moratorium process he was already in, and he went into
a diffusion period of “wandering.” He broke up his consulting company, and al-
though he had made a significant amount of money on the stock market, he then
reinvested it unwisely and lost most of it. He took a trip to India, during which
time his son, now aged 30 and who, unsurprisingly, had become quite dependent
on his communally generative father, attempted suicide. Finally, a younger
22 MARCIA

woman whom he had begun seeing after Sarah’s departure—another “strug-

gler”—began going out with someone else. He had no income at this time and
was having to consider selling his home, which he had always felt to be a signifi-
cant part of himself.
At about this time, he began to see a woman, Rosalie, first on a friendship basis,
but then, for him at least, more seriously. He was eager to enter a committed rela-
tionship with her. However, Rosalie claimed that she would marry only “a good
Christian man.” By this she meant someone who espoused fundamentalist Chris-
tianity. Even though Jack, a lapsed Roman Catholic, had always maintained an in-
terest in spiritual matters, he did not qualify. Rosalie married another man, but this
turned out to be disastrous and short-lived. (Rosalie, herself thrice married, did not
have the best judgment when it came to intimate matters.) Jack, the rugby player
with a high tolerance for pain, maintained a friendly, although frustrating, connec-
tion with her throughout her failing marriage, although he also saw other women
during this period.
Subsequently, on the fronts of both work and love, Jack began to pull his life to-
gether. He completely retooled his knowledge base and became the CEO of a com-
pany in a wholly different sector of the business world. He began to attend Bible
classes at a Protestant church and became an enthusiastic member of a special reli-
gious study group. He was “born again” and married Rosalie. They set up an apart-
ment together while he rented out his house, which he then considered selling. His
daughter had a solid career and was getting married. His son, who had been living
in the refurbished basement of Jack’s house, had to move out on his own. I think
that Rosalie will not be the easiest person to live with. However, I suspect that Jack
would not have it any other way. The lifelong identity of a tenacious, pain-tolerant
rugby player seems to have stood Jack in good stead throughout the storms of loss,
rejection, family problems, and religious conversion.
Jack left psychotherapy around the time he was “reborn” and married Rosalie.
Was he cured? Of course not. No one ever is. That’s really not the purpose of ther-
apy, which, from my perspective, is to enable one to move on in life from a “stuck”
position, as well as to engender those ongoing, adaptive processes of exploration
and commitment characteristic of lifelong identity re-formulation. What Jack does
have now that he did not have when we began working together are a more com-
plex view of himself as a man; an increased capacity for relating to others; a more
flexible and inclusive style of generativity; and a more self-constructed, broader,
and deeper identity that should serve him well as he enters the integrity period.
And yes, there certainly are elements of foreclosure in the totalistic nature of his
new religious commitments and perhaps in his overreliance on his relationship
with Rosalie. However, he faces any new threats with the knowledge that he can
explore alternatives without falling apart and that he can make commitments with-
out imprisoning himself.
I think Jack’s story speaks to a number of points I raised earlier: the
disequilibrating life events that necessitate identity re-formulation, the morato-
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 23

rium-diffusion-achievement cycle, both the continuity and the change of identity

throughout adulthood, and the broadening and deepening of the identity structure
as life cycle challenges are met and lived through.

The Case of Linda

My second case study of identity development in adulthood concerns Linda, a
37-year-old woman whom I began to see in therapy, like Jack, for issues of rela-
tionship and career. Linda spent her early childhood in a small town in northeast-
ern Canada. Her father was a railroad employee and an alcoholic for most of
Linda’s younger years; her mother was a homemaker. Linda was the middle of
three siblings in a blended family. Redheaded and slight of stature, Linda was ex-
ceptionally well dressed. She made most of her clothes herself. As she described
her adolescence, she said that she was the best-dressed person in her high school
class and that the one thing her father had done for her was to give her money to
buy good clothes. Although she had grown up Roman Catholic, she had not been at
all religious and had never felt this to be an important issue to her. She said that she
had been somewhat sexually promiscuous in high school—as a way of gaining at-
tention and affection.
She made several attempts at postsecondary education. The first was a brief
stay in nursing school. This had been her mother’s plan for her, but Linda found
herself uninterested in school as well as unwelcome there. She then made several
brief forays into courses in fashion design at two other institutions. She just could
not stay with any of these. I think that if we had given her an identity status inter-
view when she was 20, she would have been primarily identity diffuse with some
elements of foreclosure and moratorium. As those of us who have given numerous
identity status interviews know, individuals are never just one status; even if one
status is predominant, there will be a mixture of statuses. That is why we have re-
cently begun to score identity statuses dimensionally as well as categorically.
When Linda came to see me she was working as an office receptionist in a pro-
fessional setting in a large city in the Pacific Northwest. How she came to be there
is a significant part of her story. After she defaulted on her higher education, Linda
went back to her small hometown and got a job waiting tables. She met and fell in
love with Jacqueline, a French Canadian woman. They moved in together and
quickly became almost inseparable psychologically. With this woman, Linda
could be her rebellious self as well as gain some of the nurturing she had never felt
from her mother. This was Linda’s first real assertion of an identity that was hers,
even if it was formed as a “rebel.” As it is for many women, this identity was
greatly saturated with intimacy issues (see Bilsker, Schiedel, & Marcia, 1988;
Erikson, 1968; Gilligan, 1982). However, the relationship began to go increas-
ingly sour as Jacqueline became more and more involved with drugs and alcohol,
coming in at early morning hours to an anxious and frantic Linda. After about 5
years of this, Linda met Greg, who took it on himself to “rescue” her from what he
24 MARCIA

saw as a destructive relationship (of which he also disapproved because of its les-
bian aspect). Similar to Jack’s, many of Linda’s crucial adult identity-challenging
events involved relationships.
Linda then made another courageous identity decision. Although she could
have moved in with Greg after leaving Jacqueline, she decided to leave the whole
area and move 3,000 miles away to the Pacific Northwest, to a strange city, and be-
gan to make a new life on her own. This behavior might be seen as mere flight, but I
think it was more positive than that. Linda had finally determined to live a life of
her own, independent from her mother’s designs, Jacqueline’s demands, and
Greg’s directives. She had never before lived alone for a lengthy period of time and
had a difficult year getting settled in a new city and beginning a new job. She found
her employment as an office receptionist considerably more fulfilling than waiting
tables, and the office staff and professionals began to constitute a new community
for her. Although this new round of identity achievement was initiated by relation-
ship issues, it involved an assertion on her part of both autonomy and initiative.
This was especially significant in light of Linda’s childhood, in which shame
played a large part. One of her earliest memories as a little girl was being ridiculed
by her mother for urinating in an open sewer pipe.
Linda had been in her new location for about 3 years when we began a course
of therapy that lasted another 3 years. As I stated before, her major issues were
relationships and career, both of which had at their base questions of self-esteem.
It was some time before she could look me in the eye for any period of time in our
sessions. Linda was still emotionally attached to Jacqueline and Greg, neither of
whom provided her with any support. Jacqueline had cut off communication, and
Greg was unreliable in contacting her and was emotionally unavailable when he
did. As we spoke in our sessions about books and movies, it became clear to both
of us that Linda’s job and educational history were not at all reflective of her in-
tellectual abilities. We frequently addressed her habit of making
self-depreciative statements and her difficulties in taking good emotional care of
herself.
Somewhat more than was the case with Jack, our relationship itself seemed to
be a key factor in her improvement in therapy. I had taken a primarily ego psycho-
analytic approach with Jack, focusing on current life issues with appropriate refer-
ence to past events. Often I felt very much like a combination teacher–coach. With
Linda, I functioned more as a mirroring and idealizing self-object (Kohut, 1977).
She became increasingly self-confident and self-appreciative. Even though she
was extremely lonely, she successively negotiated herself away from a romantic
involvement with a convict who had had some connection with her in her duties as
office receptionist. She converted that potentially disastrous relationship into a ca-
sual friendship. Linda lost about 25 pounds, something she was quite proud of,
changed her hairstyle, and made herself a new wardrobe. She persisted in feelings
of affection for Jacqueline, although these gradually diminished. She continued to
carry a torch for Greg; however, she came increasingly to question the diminished
 IDENTITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 25

returns from the relationship with him. Clearly, her identity work was intertwined
with her intimacy work.
About 2 years into her therapy with me, Linda decided that she wanted to apply
to university, to try again in an arena where she felt that she had failed so badly.
This move was not easy, especially for someone haunted by shame. It would be dif-
ficult to describe the fear, ambivalence, and procrastination with which she ap-
proached this challenge. However, after much equivocation, Linda did send off
her application, and she was accepted for university admission. She then took a
correspondence course in biology and received a B grade in it—this after having
been away from academia for almost 20 years.
At about this time, she lost her job as office receptionist because of the
company’s downsizing. Previously, this would have been such a blow to her
self-esteem that she would have given up on her plans to go to university.
However, Linda picked herself up, got a job with another firm, finally let go
emotionally of Jacqueline, gave Greg his ultimatum (on which he defaulted),
began a relationship with an eligible partner in the new company, and made
plans to move back east to begin university. As she said, what she had gained
in therapy was not some kind of guarantee that she would lead a happy life, but
knowledge that when disasters befell her, she would have the inner strength to
weather them.
Linda’s story is not over by any means. I do not know whether she will be the
criminology major and psychological counselor she aims to be. I do not know what
will become of her current relationship. However, I do know that she takes a much
sturdier self and a much stronger identity into her new world.

CONCLUSIONS

Both Jack and Linda underwent a number of identity re-formulations during the
time we spent together in psychotherapy. For both persons, disequilibrating events
occurred in the areas of both love and work (Freud’s lieben und arbeiten, singled
out by him as primary goals of therapeutic effort). The reader may notice that
Jack’s story is longer. He has lived more life, and generativity has figured more
strongly in his history (as well as in his identity) than it has, thus far, in Linda’s.
Both persons will undergo subsequent identity re-formulations: Jack as he enters
integrity, Linda as she faces both generativity and yet further efforts at intimacy.
Both of them now know that they can undergo future identity challenges without
disintegrating and with a sense of excitement as well as apprehension. Although
my treatment orientation was somewhat different in the two situations, both ap-
proaches fell within a general psychodynamic orientation. Most relevant to this ar-
ticle, my approach was informed by Erikson’s developmental outline and was
consistent with his contextually focused (i.e., psychosocial), relationally based
theory. Although the development of some degree of autonomy and independence
26 MARCIA

was important for both people, these changes, as Erikson has consistently main-
tained, were in the service of mature interpersonal mutuality and interdependence
(see Marcia, 1993, 1998).

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