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As teenagers begin to move out from under their parents’ control

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one of their most important tasks is to form a sense of their own identity

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a sense of themselves as distinct both from their parents and from their peers.

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Erik Erikson claimed that identity formation was the chief challenge of adolescence.

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He observed that most teens go through an identity crisis

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as they struggle to answer the questions “Who am I?” and “Where am I headed?”

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Other researchers have expanded and refined Erikson’s concept of identity formation.

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James Marcia has been perhaps the most influential.

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He developed techniques for measuring a person’s progress through the identity-formation process.

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Before we describe Marcia’s contribution to research on identity formation

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let’s explore your own progress toward developing an identity.