Marcia Theory Of Identity Development

Kyle W. Ross , Washington State University

Kyle Ross.jpg Many advisors piece of work with students who are exploring, either initially or after a first (or second) choice of majors doesn't piece of work out; other advisors work with students who take chosen their major. It is common that both of these types of students don't know what career they wish to pursue. How can advisors adequately help students explore and commit to a major or career pick?

Career and counseling theories can generate practical approaches that can be used by advisors. Although many advisors exercise not take a counseling background, they can notwithstanding draw on techniques developed from counseling theories to guide students in their exploration and commitment processes. This article provides foundational knowledge of Marcia's (1966, 1980) identity status theory and Gottfredson's (1981) theory of circumscription and compromise, and explores how they intersect and how advisors can use techniques derived from them when working with major- and career-exploring students.

In her 2006 text on kid development, Laura Berk discusses the importance of identity in the conclusion-making process and highlights James Marcia's theory of identity evolution based on exploration and commitment. Marcia'southward four identity stages are diffusion (low exploration, low commitment), foreclosure (low exploration, high commitment), moratorium (high exploration, low commitment), and achievement (high exploration, loftier delivery). Using this matrix, advisors tin can recognize whether students have or have not explored a great deal, and whether they are committed to their choices.

In the identity diffusion stage, students are unmotivated to even brainstorm the exploration procedure. They may exist overwhelmed by the sheer number of major and career choices, resulting in having no idea on where to start. Farther, they may not understand how critical it is to their success to decide on a major/career. Students may besides be completely unaware of the number of realistic choices they have, and believe they must choose the major/career path they take previously identified.

To assist students with this process, advisors can talk over a timeline for choosing a major/career pathway and highlight the difference between majors with a very prescribed or structured four-year program and majors with more flexibility. This tin serve two purposes. For students who need to understand in that location are more than choices, the more flexible majors tin help them see they take time to decide. For students who take no motivation to explore, more structured majors highlight the demand to make a decision more than apace before they risk longer fourth dimension-to-caste. Linda Gottfredson (in Brown & Lent, 2005) summarized this perfectly: "Vocational understanding and decision-making tends to garner attention only when its demands crescendo, that is, when adolescents simultaneously realize the full complication of making life decisions and the imminent need to do so" (p. 74). This likewise provides an excellent opportunity to inquire open-ended questions about a student's future career aspirations.

While the moratorium stage may sound negative, it demonstrates articulate advantages over identity diffusion and foreclosure (Berk, 2006). By the fourth dimension they accept explored a variety of options withal still cannot commit to one or 2 choices, students have obtained the knowledge and the resources sufficient to go on actively inquiring into these choices until a decision is made. These students are motivated and will eventually reach the identity accomplishment stage. Advisors working with these students tin can foster confidence in their choices. Fifty-fifty if a major/career is suitable, students are typically anxious about committing to it considering they are not confident it is the absolute all-time selection. One style advisors can help with this anxiety is to advise conducting informational interviews, internships, and other forms of experiential learning in the career or major areas under consideration.

An additional theory on which advisors can draw is Gottfredson'south theory of circumscription and compromise (in Brown & Lent, 2005). The "circumscription" slice of this career development theory is centered on the process of eliminating choices not suitable for the pupil until only a list of platonic choices remains. For students, it may seem simpler and less stressful to choose what they don't want to major in or consider as an occupation, rather than what they exercise desire to pursue. Gottfredson theorized that in educatee development, students get-go eliminating possible career choices when they are quite young, simply non necessarily for authentic or suitable reasons. As children, they may eliminate career choices based on perceived gender roles and authoritative figures, whereas students in college are better able to use disquisitional thinking skills to evaluate each option based on interests, skills, values, or personality traits.

Advisors can aid students see patterns in the process of elimination and ask almost eliminations made for a seemingly trivial reason. The overwhelming number of choices and then is narrowed downward to a select few, with the educatee more able to inquiry those areas to detect their platonic major or career path. This strategy worked well in our University "higher majors and career option" course for exploring students. Guiding students through the process of elimination, they were asked to research the list of all available majors to determine their involvement in each major. Student evaluations showed that they highly valued this procedure and recommended the activity be connected in time to come semesters.

Typically, the most hard population advisors can work with is students in the foreclosure stage. These students have committed to a conclusion/major without much exploration. If the foreclosed pupil is not successful in the called major, they are oft airtight-minded nearly a proposition to study something else (Berk, 2006). Moreover, one time they realize they need to cull a different major, they typically conduct a "truncated search" and will jump to another major, again without much exploration (Gottfredson, 2004). Gottfredson'due south theory is an splendid framework to help u.s.a. empathise and propose these students. The "compromise" procedure is a helpful second phase of this career development theory. Students may open toward a zone of acceptable alternatives if the ideal major or career path is unrealistic (Gottfredson, in Brown & Lent, 2005). Commonly, foreclosed students have a focused set of reasons for their pick, and Gottfredson suggests removing some of the less impactful reasons so that other majors and career paths volition be open to them. This may help prevent the pupil's truncated search. Chiefly, advisors should besides emphasize that there are different majors and paths that will even so allow the student to pursue their ultimate career goal.

Finally, co-ordinate to Josselson (1994) and Marcia, Waterman, Matteson, Archer, & Orlofsky (1993), students who accept reached the identity achievement phase exhibit college self-esteem, higher critical thinking skills and cocky-insight (as cited in Berk, 2006, p. 458). Fifty-fifty if a student has decided on a major and is successful in that major, advisors tin can still assistance with their career exploration. Another benefit to these two theories is that the techniques adult from them can be utilized with all advising styles. With knowledge of these theories, advisors can feel more confident in career advising and know that they are helping students achieve realistic and ideal goals.

Kyle W. Ross
Academic and Career Advisor
Eye for Advising and Career Development
University Higher
Washington State University
kwross@wsu.edu

References

Berk, L. E. (2006). Child development (7^th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

Brown, S. D., & Lent, R. Due west. (2005). Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to piece of work. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Gottfredson, Linda S. (1981). Circumscription and compromise: A developmental theory of occupational aspirations. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28(6), 545-579.

Gottfredson, L. Due south. (2004). Using Gottfredson's theory of circumscription and compromise in career guidance and counseling. Retrieved from http://www.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/2004theory.pdf

Gottfredson, Fifty. S. (2005). Applying Gottfredson'southward theory of circumscription and compromise in career guidance and counseling. In Southward. Dark-brown & R. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp. 71-100). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Josselson, R. (1994). The theory of identity development and the question of intervention. In South. Fifty. Archer (Ed.), Interventions for adolescent identity development (pp. 12-25). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Marcia, J. Eastward., (1966), Development and validation of ego identity condition, Periodical of Personality and Social Psychology three, 551-558.

Marcia, J. Due east., (1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Marcia, J. E., Waterman, A. S., Matteson, D. R., Archer, S. 50., & Orlofsky, J. 50. (1993). Ego identity: A handbook for psychosocial research. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Cite this article using APA mode equally: Ross, K. (2013, June). Applying career and identity development theories in advising. Academic Advising Today, 36(two). Retrieved from [insert url here]