Erikson noted that complex societies make available what he called a “moratorium” period in which young people are given a time-out to try on possibilities without the social world taking their choices too seriously. College environments are ideally suited for such a moratorium period. College students are given license to experiment—with different

me.” This is not the answer I was hoping for. I wanted to hear about what I then thought was real identity—their occupational and ideological commitments. This is what Erikson had theorized identity was about. In 1972,

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).

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

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

Viewing identity as a narrative marks its dynamic nature. It is a process, not an entity. Identity, as an ongoing story, evolves to encompass what comes into a life and omits what no longer seems at play in that life. The changes we undergo are metabolized

By and large and with some exceptions, these women are not very prone to self-reflection or pondering their own development. Mostly, they face forward rather than inward. They are not psychologists, and they don’t think the way I do, always wanting to know how and why people are the way they are. Yet I think they enjoy the “stranger on the train”

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

revised over time in women. Identity is both a psychological structure and a set of contents within that structure.12 As an internal structure, identity is the integration of all the important elements of the person we are in the world, from the most public to the mainly private. As Erikson developed his concept of identity, he stressed its