Reconciling control and identity development: experiences of South African adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore how a group of South African adolescents experience and react to being controlled during their process of finding a personal identity. Adolescents from the Eastern Cape province in South Africa (n = 120; 58.33% female) participated in focus group discussions regarding their experiences of how control shaped their sense of self. Participants understood identity as a continuous and fluid process of negotiation and adjustment shaped by significant others and embedded in social context. Participants articulated various experiences of control, mostly negative. Through thematic analysis, three pathways were constructed as distinct reactions to control: Conforming and Submitting, Finding Freedom, and Internalising. Each of these reactions contains a unique combination of exploration and commitment, with specific implications for identity development and achievement.