What is the role of family in identity formation in adolescence?

Question

What is the role of family in identity formation in adolescence?

Answer 1

Sparkles is almost correct, except it was Identity vs Role confusion.

Now, stages of development apply as long as no other factors are affected (ceteris paribus).

So if you consider a specific historical moment (say today vs a century ago) or different social context (say an adolescent in the USA vs an adolescent in Samoa) answers might shift somewhat.

I would say that the role of family in building identity in contemporary American adolescents is growing increasingly weak.

Answer 2

What do you mean??

Answer 3

Parenting styles have a lot to do with the way we develop as adolescents (authoritative - the best, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved). The way we were reared as children plays a huge role in our relationships for the rest of our lives. Family becomes more autonomous in adolescence, i.e. teenagers begin to see themselves as slighlty separate from their families and develop more independence. That's only a small part of it though. If you're really interested maybe research info on Erikson's psychosocial stages. According to him, adolescents are going through identity versus identity crisis.