Experiencing life at a young age - identity problems and the strategies for coping with them, as perceived by academic youth

Abstract

This paper deals with the way young people experience an identity crisis, which is analyzed in terms of the self-creation problems that academic youth are confronted with. It is also an attempt to outline strategies for coping with a crisis, including adolescent rebellion, considered to be a peculiar form of dealing with the problems related to self-creation. An identity crisis has been analyzed in the aspect of fundamental “ego” states (identity forms), classifi ed in the article into two general categories: an integrated, pro-developmental identity, and a disintegrated, anti-developmental one. In the study the author also examines the potential consequences of identity disturbances, and the mechanisms governing the process of creating an individual identity. Analysis of rebellion, the experience which young people go through, aims at investigating its two fundamental forms (inner vs. outer rebellion), and the main underlying sources (altruistic vs. egocentric rebellion). The examination of strategies for coping with problems, presented in the article, includes: constructive activity, active and passive escape, and seeking social support.