Tolerance of difference from parents, even in ways that might perturb them, was, at this age, the hallmark of the internal psychological work that made independent identity creation possible. Where the Guardians could not free themselves from parental models or values and the Searchers could not overcome their guilt at doing so, the Pathmakers foun

Pathmakers from the college-age sample that I found at age 33. One woman who seemed to be a Pathmaker in college developed after college more like a Drifter in the sense that she experienced life as happening to her rather than herself making choices. In later follow-ups, she seemed to have commitments, but weak ones and commitments that were hard

These are women who were confident and clear as college seniors—they scored at the high end of psychological tests of autonomy and self-esteem. All of the five women who remained Pathmakers from college to late midlife had attended a state university, with most working to contribute to their education. While they all seemed to enjoy talking to me a

Within psychological theory, the Pathmaker identity style in late adolescence has been considered to be the most developmentally advanced: these are people who are “on time” according to the developmental clock. But we have known little about what happens to such people later in life. What characterized the Pathmakers at the end of college was thei

See McAdams (1997, 2001); McLean, Pasupathi, and Pals (2007); McAdams and McLean (2013); and McLean, Pasupathi, and Pals (2007). There is a vast literature on narrative and identity, some of which is reviewed in Lieblich and Josselson (2013) and Josselson and Lieblich (2001). Among the works I consider most important are Bruner (1990, 2003) and Pol

and shifting character of identity. 15. Erikson’s paper, “Womanhood and the Inner Space,” published in 1968, seems to suggest that the crux of a woman’s identity is the partner she chooses (i.e., who she admits to the “inner space”). In this paper, much maligned by feminists, Erikson also recognizes that options at the time were limited for women a

Many psychologists have written extensively and thoughtfully about identity from an Eriksonian point of view, too many to adequately reference here. For current reviews, see especially

Gail Collins’ (2009) book When Everything Changed documents in detail the social changes of the periods I cover in this book.

The young person (in industrialized society) is challenged by the alternatives available to choose a way of being in the world, to affirm what she will stand for as she takes her place in the adult world. This could be about occupation (what she will DO) or ideology (what she will BELIEVE).