Robin Fivush

This has made me the person I am today.

This has set up my beliefs, my goals, my values.

Particularly in adolescence and young adulthood,

When we really, all of us, go through a period of identity questioning, right?

As children, we don't question our family's values, their religious values, their community values, their moral values.

But then we get to an age where we have more resources.

We're moving out into the world.

We have a greater set of friends and contacts.

We can think about things more abstractly.

We start to go through what Eric Erickson called the identity crisis.

Who am I?

Who do I want to be?

Just because my

parents go to church?

Do I want to go to church?

Just because my parents vote for this political party, is that my political party?

Many, many adolescents and young adults end up in the same place as their parents.

But we all go through that process of exploration and questioning.

And that's when we really start to put together what's called a life story or a life narrative.

How did I become the person I am?