Racial Identity Development

Introduction

Identity development is the complex process by which people come to develop a sense and understanding of themselves within the context of cultural demands and social norms. In words of Cross (pp. 34-78) identity development has been seen historically as a primary developmental task of adolescence—the transition from dependency in childhood to increasing responsibility for one's own needs, interests, drives, aspirations, and desires in adulthood. This transition involves a cognitive reorganization in how youth think about themselves in relation to others as they gain physical, social, and psychological maturity.

However, societal and historical shifts have complicated the developmental markers for adolescence, causing the demarcation of adolescence to become difficult to define. Additionally, despite being associated with adolescence, identity development is an ongoing process that continues throughout adulthood where one forms an identity within a larger and transitional cultural context. For example, changes in the body due to puberty, shifts in socio-cultural context due to war or the civil rights movement, changes in individual role responsibility due to parenthood or divorce, and changes in cognitive processing due to aging support a life-span view of identity formation (Cross, pp. 34-78). Moreover, cultural factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexual orientation also affect the identity formation that take place on the way to and through adulthood. This paper explains racial identity development in the context of the book Shades of Black: Diversity in African American Identity written by Cross, W. (1991).

Discussion

The view of identity development as being multidimensional has been supported in the racial and ethnic identity development research, yet identity development differences between those in an individualistic society and those in a collectivistic society have not been sufficiently investigated. It has been suggested that the psychosocial process of individuation occurs differently for men and women and perhaps differently across different cultural contexts. For example, those from individualistic societies are typically taught to value autonomy and independence from an early age. Yet those from collectivistic cultures learn to value relationships and connectedness, indicating potential variances within the identity development processes of those with both cultures. Future identity research could explore the vicissitudes of identity development across contexts as well as the consistencies across contexts (Cross, pp. 34-78).

Additionally, the process of sexual identity development warrants more study. There have been extensive studies on sexual body development in adolescence; however, the psychological processes that take place as relationships with same- and opposite-sex ...