James Marcia#Foreclosure

Marcia was born in a middle-class family on February 10, 1937, in Cleveland, Ohio, and spent his childhood in Columbus, Ohio. He grew up practicing tennis, drama, speech, and music. Marcia explored different subjects including history, English, and philosophy, and he graduated in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He also received a master's and a doctoral degree in 1965 from Ohio State University in clinical psychology.Harmons, L. N. (n.d.). James Marcia - American Board of Assessment Psychology. https://www.assessmentpsychologyboard.org/edp/pdf/James_Marcia.pdf .{{Cite web |url=http://www.cla.csulb.edu/departments/hdev/facultyinfo/documents/Marcia_developmentandvalidationofegoidentitystatus.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121459/http://www.cla.csulb.edu/departments/hdev/facultyinfo/documents/Marcia_developmentandvalidationofegoidentitystatus.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}

Marcia began his professional career in 1965 as a professor and director of the psychology clinic at the University at Buffalo. In 1972, he began work at Simon Fraser University where he taught for 30 years before retiring. At Simon Fraser University, he established their first clinical psychology center, offering both training and supervision opportunities for graduate students as well as clinical services to the public. Although research, teaching, and community psychology were major commitments, he also attended the University of British Columbia School of Music from 1995 to 1998 for performance in trombone. After his retirement, Dr. Marcia continues to maintain a private clinical practice. He has continued music, playing the bass and tenor trombone with symphony orchestras and bands in Vancouver.{{Cite web |title=Marcia – Cherry Classics Music |url=https://cherryclassics.com/pages/Marcia |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=cherryclassics.com}}

James Marcia is perhaps best known for his extensive research and writings on psychological development, with specific attention focused on adolescent psychosocial development and lifespan identity development. Erik H. Erikson had suggested that the normative conflict occurring in adolescence is the opposition between identity achievement and role confusion, which is Erikson's fifth stage of psychosocial development.{{Cite web|last=Kroger|first=Jane|date=2017-02-27|title=Identity Development in Adolescence and Adulthood|url=https://oxfordre.com/psychology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.001.0001/acrefore-9780190236557-e-54|access-date=2021-05-05|website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology|language=en|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.54|isbn=978-0-19-023655-7}} Marcia elaborated on Erikson's proposal in a citation classic[http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1984/A1984TR91100001.pdf Marcia, J. E., (1966), Development and validation of ego identity status] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616050910/http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1984/A1984TR91100001.pdf |date=2007-06-16 }}, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3, pp. 551-558 by suggesting this stage consists neither of identity resolution nor identity confusion as Erikson claimed, but is better understood as the extent to which one has both explored and committed to an identity in a variety of life domains including politics, occupation, religion, intimate relationships, friendships, and gender roles. 'Two crucial areas in which the adolescent must make such commitments are ideology and occupation'.James E. Marcia, "Ego-Identity Status", in Michael Argyle, Social Encounters (Penguin 1973) p. 340

His theory of identity achievement states that there are two distinct parts contributing to the achievement of adolescent identity: a time of choosing or crisis, and a commitment. He defined a crisis as a time of upheaval where old values or choices are being reexamined and new alternatives are explored - 'times during adolescence when the individual seems to be actively involved in choosing among alternative occupations and beliefs'.Marcia, "Ego-Identity Status" p. 340 Both exploration and commitment are the two processes that contribute to differences in outcome during an Identity crisis. That is, whether or not (the extent to which) one explores identity alternatives and whether or not one makes a commitment to chosen alternatives.

Marcia developed the Identity Status Interview, a method of semi-structured interview for psychological identity research, that investigates an individual's extent of exploration and commitment across different life areas. Evaluating the material provided in this interview by using a scoring manual developed by Marcia and colleagues yields four possible outcomes.{{Cite journal|last=Marcia|first=James E.|date=1966|title=Identity Status Interview|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/t07432-000|access-date=2021-06-22|website=PsycTESTS Dataset|doi=10.1037/t07432-000|url-access=subscription}}

The four identity statuses he distinguished were: foreclosure, identity diffusion, moratorium, and identity achievement.

"The foreclosure status is when a commitment is made without exploring alternatives. Often these commitments are based on parental ideas and beliefs that are accepted without question".{{Cite web |date=2019-10-01 |title=15.2: James Marcia – Theory of Identity Development |url=https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Early_Childhood_Education/Book%3A_Child_Growth_and_Development_(Paris_Ricardo_Rymond_and_Johnson)/15%3A_Adolescence_-_Social_Emotional_Development/15.02%3A_James_Marcia__Theory_of_Identity_Development |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=Social Sci LibreTexts |language=en}} As Marcia himself put it, "the individual about to become a Methodist, Republican farmer like his Methodist, Republican farmer father, with little or no thought in the matter, certainly cannot be said to have "achieved" an identity, in spite of his commitment".Marcia, "Ego-status Identity" p. 340

Adolescents may foreclose on the handed-down identity willingly or under pressure. The case of "negative-identity" occurs when adolescents adopt an identity in direct opposition to a prescribed identity. Marcia saw the evidence for the endorsement of authoritarian values by foreclosures as fully commensurate with a view of them as becoming the alter egos of their parents.Marcia, "Ego-Identity Status" p. 353

Marcia stressed that once an identity crisis has been experienced, returning to the foreclosure status was no longer a possibility.Marcia, "Ego-Identity Status" p. 341

Adolescents who struggle with identity development may avoid exploration and commitments, leading to identity diffusion. This least mature identity status indicates a lack of exploration and commitments in crucial life areas. This state, often accompanied by existential dread and confusion (identity crisis), can result in social isolation.J. E. Cote/C. G. Levine, Identity Formation, Agency and Culture (2002) p. 19

Marcia suggested that those with identity diffusion "do not experience much anxiety because there is little in which they are invested. As they begin to care more...they move to the moratorium status, or they become so disturbed that they are diagnosed schizophrenic";Marcia, "Ego-Identity Status" p. 352 or may end up adopting a negative and self-destructive identity-role.Ann Birch, Developmental Psychology (London 1997) p. 206

Identity moratorium is the status of individuals who are in the midst of a crisis, whose commitments are either absent or are only vaguely defined, but who are actively exploring alternatives.{{Cite web |date=2019-10-01 |title=15.2: James Marcia – Theory of Identity Development |url=https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Early_Childhood_Education/Book%3A_Child_Growth_and_Development_(Paris_Ricardo_Rymond_and_Johnson)/15%3A_Adolescence_-_Social_Emotional_Development/15.02%3A_James_Marcia__Theory_of_Identity_Development |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=Social Sci LibreTexts |language=en}} Marcia notes that "moratoriums...report experiencing more anxiety than do students in any other status...The world for them is not, currently, a highly predictable place; they are vitally engaged in a struggle to make it so".

Despite such anxiety, the postmodern trend has been for more people to spend more time in the status, a phenomenon Gail Sheehy termed Provisional Adulthood.Gail Sheehy, New Passages (London 1996) p. 43 and p. 10 Similarly, Jeffrey Arnett's Emerging Adulthood has, as a major facet of it, identity exploration, which shares many attributes with identity moratorium.{{Cite journal |last=Arnett |first=Jeffrey Jensen |date=December 2007 |title=Emerging Adulthood: What Is It, and What Is It Good For? |url=https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2007.00016.x |journal=Child Development Perspectives |language=en |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=68–73 |doi=10.1111/j.1750-8606.2007.00016.x |issn=1750-8592|url-access=subscription }}

Once a crisis has been experienced and worked through, Marcia considered, "a likely progression would be from diffusion through moratorium to identity achievement".Marcia, "Ego-identity Status" p. 341 The latter is thus the status of individuals who have typically experienced a crisis, undergone identity explorations, and made commitments. Marcia found some evidence to support his "theoretical description of Students who have achieved an identity as having developed an internal, as opposed to external, locus of self-definition".Marcia, "Ego-identity Status" p. 350

Throughout the life cycle identity status, shifts will occur. When identity status change occurs (in late adolescence and young adulthood) the change is more than twice as likely to be progressive as opposed to regressive.Kroger, J., Martinussen, M., & Marcia, J. E. (2010). Identity status change during adolescence and young adulthood: A meta-analysis. Journal of Adolescence, 33, 683-698. Longitudinally status change is most often a transition from moratorium to identity achievement.

Transitions are often inspired by disequilibrium in identity. MarciaMarcia, J. E. (2010). Life transitions and stress in the context of psychosocial development. In T. W. Miller (Ed.), Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan (pp. 19-34). {{doi|10.1007/978-1-4419-0748-6_2}} outlines how status change occurs as it relates to disequilibrium. Identity crisis comes in the form of later adult life cycle stages and various life events. Depending on the individual, particular life events such as the death of a loved one, job loss, moving, etc. may cause disequilibrium. However, this is only true when an individual has constructed some form of identity. Diffusions are stagnant. They have not made an effort to construct an identity and therefore have no identity to reform. In the case of foreclosures, many will choose to live in an environment that is similar to their childhood experiences so that they may remain unchanged. When disequilibrium occurs in the life of foreclosures, the effects may be especially devastating.

When disequilibrium occurs a period of re-construction begins. These periods of re-construction are called the moratorium-achievement-moratorium-achievement (MAMA) cycles.Life transitions and stress in the context of psychosocial development. In T. W. Miller (Ed.), Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan (pp. 19-34). {{doi|10.1007/978-1-4419-0748-6_2}} In each person's life, there are a minimum of three MAMA cycles, corresponding with the three remaining psychosocial stages. During re-construction, a person may regress to an earlier identity status.Marcia, J. E., Simon, F. U. (2003). Treading fearlessly: A commentary on personal persistence, identity development, and suicide. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 68, 131-138. It is crucial that old constructs fall so that new ones that are more encompassing of the person's identity may be constructed. In the re-construction process, there is still continuity with previous identity, however, the newer construction is broadened to include new life experiences and commitments.

While Marcia primarily focused on the late adolescent years, his theory is applicable in later adulthood, when identity crises may reoccur. One study, exploring correlations between the identity statuses of Marcia's model and social behaviors, focused on young adults ranging in age from 19 to 35.Hardy, S. A., & Kisling, J. W. (2006). Identity statuses and prosocial behaviors in young adulthood: A brief report. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 6(4), 363-369. People's identity status is not specifically limited to an age group. Individuals may explore elements tied to their identities throughout life, such as faith, ideology, and occupational preference to name a few.{{Cite book |last=Payne |first=V. Gregory |date=2017-04-25 |title=Human Motor Development |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315213040 |doi=10.4324/9781315213040|isbn=978-1-315-21304-0 }}

Using Marcia's semi-structured interview approach enables research to be flexibly adapted to different cultures. There has been a good deal of cross-cultural validation of the Identity Statuses.

However, some research has suggested that the four statuses do not operate in a developmental sequence. It has been further criticized that conscious exploration is not required for and often does not occur in identity achievement. Additionally, numerous studies conducted in support of the statuses seem to focus less on developmental issues and more on classification issues (Cote 2006)'.Thomas W. Miller, Handbook of Stressful Transitions Across the Lifespan (2009) p. 93

• Identity in psychology
• Role engulfment

{{reflist|colwidth=40em}}

• John W. Santrock, Life-Span Development (Twelfth Edition University of Texas at Dallas, Published by Mcgraw-Hill, Copyright 2009)
• James E. Marcia, Ego Identity (1993)
• J. Cote, "Emerging adulthood as an institutionalized moratorium" in J. Arnett/J. Tanner eds, Emerging Adults in America (2006)
• Seth J. Schwartz, "The evolution of Eriksonian and Neo-Eriksonian identity theory and research", Identity, 1, 7-58.

• [http://socialscientist.us/nphs/psychIB/psychpdfs/Marcia.pdf James Marcia's Identity States]

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Category:21st-century American psychologists

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