Developmental Trajectories of Women's Identity Development

Abstract

A substantial amount of identity development scholarship has drawn on the work of Erik Erikson to argue that women resolve stages of identity and intimacy simultaneously, whereas men follow the trajectory originally proposed by Erikson, first resolving the identity stage, then the intimacy stage. Some research has shown that for some women, the identity and intimacy stages appear to be fused; however, other research has shown that many women do follow the traditional Eriksonian progression. We propose a model of identity development for women that maps a trajectory for women who follow Erikson's traditional stages and a relational-identity trajectory characterized by simultaneous resolution of the identity and intimacy stages. Our model synthesizes work by Josselson (1987), Dyk and Adams's (1990) recognition of sex-role identification, Kerpelman and Pittman's (2018) infusion of attachment theory and identity, and Berzonsky's (1990) identity styles. Future research directions are also presented. In a 2017 speech, Hillary Clinton stated, "Despite all the challenges we face, I remain convinced that yes, the future is female" (O'Hara, 2017). In a time when the culture shift is to make the "future female,"

A strong relationality view of mindfulness and flourishing I–Thou relations: A dyadic analysis.

“…In contrast, we argue that mindfulness can be more richly understood by taking a strongly relational perspective, which holds that individuals are defined first by their relationships, “already and always related to one another” (Slife & Wiggins, 2009, p. 18; see also Gergen, 2009). In other words, “it is in relationship [with others] that new aspects of self and other are brought to awareness” (Butterbaugh & Wood, 2020, p. 404) because we are “primarily social beings, with individuality emerging from our social embeddedness” (Fowers et al, 2022 p. 79). With this view, “an individual does not partake in social relations, but emerges from them” (p. 85).…”