Psychosocial Development Factors Associated with Occupational and Vocational Identity Between Infancy and Adolescence

Adolescent Research Review, Apr 2016

The identification with an occupation is a challenge most adolescents face in their transition into adulthood. Psychosocial development theory suggests that adolescents’ identification with an occupation develops across the lifespan, making youth work roles, choices, and behaviors products of their integrated psychosocial development experiences. This review examines the existing occupational and vocational identity literature to identify the associations with factors relevant to psychosocial development between infancy and adolescence, and integrates them to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how adolescents identify with an occupation. The review reveals that the factors important to healthy psychosocial development in each of Erikson’s five pre-adult stages largely were predictive of occupational identity status in adolescence. Disagreement was present in the literature, with most of it centered on the role of complex outer and environmental factors. The review highlights gaps in the literature and prioritizes areas for future research based largely on a return to Erikson’s intention of treating occupational identity as developmental. The review adds to the current debates and knowledge of youth development and of how adolescents identify with an occupation by providing an integration of the existing empirical evidence not just at the point of adolescence, but also across the entire pre-adult lifespan.

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Psychosocial Development Factors Associated with Occupational and Vocational Identity Between Infancy and Adolescence

Adolescent Res Rev Psychosocial Development Factors Associated with Occupational and Vocational Identity Between Infancy and Adolescence Rau´ l Cha´ vez The identification with an occupation is a challenge most adolescents face in their transition into adulthood. Psychosocial development theory suggests that adolescents' identification with an occupation develops across the lifespan, making youth work roles, choices, and behaviors products of their integrated psychosocial development experiences. This review examines the existing occupational and vocational identity literature to identify the associations with factors relevant to psychosocial development between infancy and adolescence, and integrates them to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how adolescents identify with an occupation. The review reveals that the factors important to healthy psychosocial development in each of Erikson's five preadult stages largely were predictive of occupational identity status in adolescence. Disagreement was present in the literature, with most of it centered on the role of complex outer and environmental factors. The review highlights gaps in the literature and prioritizes areas for future research based largely on a return to Erikson's intention of treating occupational identity as developmental. The review adds to the current debates and knowledge of youth development and of how adolescents identify with an occupation by providing an integration of the existing empirical evidence not just at the point of adolescence, but also across the entire pre-adult lifespan. Adolescence; Occupational identity; Vocational identity; Psychosocial development; Erikson; Systematic review - The notion of an occupational identity (or, interchangeably, vocational identity) dates back to Erik Erikson’s work (1950, 1968) on the stages of psychosocial development. In his theory of psychosocial development, Erikson (1950, 1968) proposed that choosing an occupation is essential to the achievement of an identity during adolescence. Conversely, it is the inability to settle on an occupational identity that most disturbs young people and prevents them from achieving their adult identity. As technological advances transform the labor market and extend the period between school life and the world of work, Erikson argued, the psychosocial development stage of adolescence has become an even more critical and conscious period for youth. The period of adolescence is thus marked by the challenge that youth face in needing to mutually regulate their sense of who they are and the capacities they have acquired in infancy and childhood with the roles and skills work and adulthood demand of them. Occupational identity is not so much a concept as it is a construct integral to the formation of an achieved identity (Vondracek 1992). It is interwoven with all of the elements of an achieved identity, and, as such, its development can be traced back to birth. As Erikson postulated (1968), all elements of identity, including the ones that are solidified in later stages of life, are branches rooted to a greater whole and to a single starting point. Occupational identity is not static, but fluid, dynamic, and developmental (Vondracek 1992). It does not emerge haphazardly, but rather, it develops across the lifespan. Its importance to an integrated identity grows and reaches a critical point during adolescence, when youth are expected to independently project themselves imaginatively into the future via a possible occupational path (Kroger and Marcia 2011). In short, without an occupational identity, there is no achieved overall identity, and without an achieved overall identity, there is no psychosocial transition into adulthood. Toward an Understanding of Occupational Identity According to Meyer et al. (1993), ‘‘occupational identity refers to an individual’s positive assessment of the occupation he/she is engaged in, and it indicates the importance of the occupational role to the individual’s self-identity’’ (p. 539). Occupations are not merely actions, but roles that are extensions of people’s identity (Super 1957). In other words, identity drives the reasons why individuals choose to perform their occupational roles (Vondracek 1991). Holland et al. (1993) defined vocational identity, on the other hand, as ‘‘the possession of a clear and stable picture of one’s goals, interests, and talents’’ (p. 1). This definition relates to an overall identity in that attaining a vocational identity requires a clear sense of self. One cannot exist without the other. The literature uses the two terms interchangeably in spite of the slight difference in definition because both terms ultimately convey the isomorphic relationship between identity and occupational roles and behaviors. A significant amount of research has found empirical support for the correlation between high occupational identity status and mature identity formation (Anderson and Mounts 2012 (...truncated)


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Raúl Chávez. Psychosocial Development Factors Associated with Occupational and Vocational Identity Between Infancy and Adolescence, Adolescent Research Review, 2016, pp. 307-327, Volume 1, Issue 4, DOI: 10.1007/s40894-016-0027-y