Identity, CAD 138, Winter 2012: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Number 138

This volume examines the structure and context of identity development in a number of different countries: Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Italy, China, and Japan. Although Erikson believed that identity development proceeded in much the same way across national contexts, the chapters in this volume suggest that there are important nuances in the ways in which identity unfolds in each country. Macrocultural forces, such as permissiveness in Sweden, collective guilt in Germany, and filial piety in China, direct the identity development process in important ways. Expectations regarding obligations and ties to family also direct the identity development process differently in many of the countries included in this volume—such as extended co-residence with parents in Italy, lifelong obligations to follow parents’ wishes in China, and democratic independence in Sweden. The various countries are compared and
contrasted against the United States, where much of the early identity research was conducted. The volume also reviews specific identity challenges facing immigrant and ethnic-minority individuals in countries that receive large numbers of immigrants—Germany, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Italy—and suggests many future directions for identity research in various parts of the world.

Seth J. Schwartz is the author of Identity Around the World: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Number 138, published by Wiley.