A Dialogical Approach to the Identity Dilemmas of Young Adults

The developmental tasks of early adulthood can be considered not only in terms of achieving goals related to family, social and professional life, but also in the context of changes in the further development of identity. This position is based on an assumption that the processes behind the formation of identity in early adulthood are linked with its reconstruction leading towards multiaspectedness and flexibility. From the dialogical point of view, the dynamic evolution of identity in the period of early adulthood is a result of 1) many new I-positions being developed, 2) active processes of positions within the dialogical self being adopted and changed. Additionally, the various I-positions of the self have available different points of view. The confrontation among them can be experienced as an identiy dilemma. Four such dilemmas are discussed, based on the theories of Erikson, the Newmans, and Levinson, i.e. exploration vs. commitment, now vs. the future, dependence vs. independence, work vs. family.