is shows that identity achievement mustgo on into adulthood. OConnell (1976), found similar patterns when he carried outretrospective interviews with married women who had school age children. Thesewomen described how their identity became more evident to themselves as theyprogressed though their life, from getting married, to finding a job, to having children.These findings suggest that identity development is not so strongly focused inadolescence as Erikson believes.The work on identity status and its attempt to pin down Eriksons ideas hasshown some interesting findings but can be criticised on three counts. Firstly, it is notthe case that adolescents experience the moratorium status in different topic areas atthe same time. It is evident that at a single point in time, one content area (e.g.religious belief), may be stable while another area of life decision (e.g. sexuality), is incrisis. Secondly, a crisis can occur at any point in time during adult life, but identitydevelopment is quite prominent in the early adult years (Cowie and Smith 1996).Finally, it has been discovered that for most young people, most of the time changesin identity are gradual (Cowie and Smith 1996), and are not restricted to individualstage-like experiences. It would therefore appear that the status categories are notsuch a useful tool for adequately assessing identity as first expected. In conclusion, Eriksons work is a direct descendent of Freudian theory. Hedoes not try to redefine the fundamentals of psychoanalysis but instead enrich, clarifyand extend it by taking into account the importance of culture and historical contexts.Erikson was also able to illustrate the nature of their influence on individual identity.However, this is not without criticism, many of which have been mentioned earlier.Some are relatively minor, such as the considerable similarities in the context of hisbooks, but more serious is the possibility of cultural bias. Although he r...
