Marcia’s Statuses – Forum 7

Discussion Forum 7

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Discussion Forum 7: The Use of Marcia’s Statuses in Identity Achievement

High school was fun, I made a lot of friends and probably enemies at the same time. I would say that by the time I was completing high school, I knew little of what I want to become in future. Studies were hard, and my once ambition of becoming a pilot was diminishing. One factor that contributed to this change of perception was the fact that I was getting lower marks as compared to when I was in elementary school. Apparently, just as Marcia defines it, I was in the identity diffusion stage as I had little or no opinion of where I would end up in life and what I wanted to be. My plans did not major much on career but rather on which college I would attend after graduating from high school. I told myself that I was going to think about my career when I graduate from college as I felt that there was plenty of time and I was too young to ponder about that. I never wanted to make any real commitments on anything and I felt like being in an ocean without a compass and waited for life to take me wherever it wanted to me to be. In fact, the people in my boat never seemed to mind where the boat is taking us, and I felt that I was safe in that group as none of my peers in high school seemed to have a serious take on life too.

However, when I was in second grade in High School, I had held on to some beliefs about a woman’s position in the society and terms of career. I believed that there are jobs that were meant for men and those that were meant for women. I categorized all Engineering jobs, military, and politics as male-oriented. The beliefs were also a contributing factor as to why I changed my zeal to become a pilot. Apparently, I got that notion from the people in my village as I heard and saw men involved in those things while women shied away from them at a great extent. As a result, I made a pre-conclusion based on the beliefs I had about the roles of men and women in the society. I, therefore, classified myself as one who should get ‘feminine’ jobs such as secretary, nursing, and teaching among others, apparently, most of my friends seemed to conquer with the same notions. I felt like I had already made a foreclosure of my future based on the jobs that I thought women should settle for. About Marcia’s theory, I had made the foreclosure without even critically thinking of what those beliefs meant and if they were the real thing in the corporate world and society. Moreover, one of my parents seemed to put the notion that being a pilot was not the right job for me even though they did not say it to me directly. I felt like I am in a boat which is set for a certain direction, but I was not ready to arrive there as the main passenger in the boat.

Immediately after graduating from High school, I felt like I was in the moratorium stage, as Marcia would call it. I began getting serious about what I want in life and started exploring for options. I wanted to go and pursue a course that I love in college, not necessarily prominent, as I viewed being a pilot, but rather what I loved to do with my life in future. However, the options were many, but I felt so undecided, I would discriminate this because of this reason and that because of that reason and so on until it became a cycle. I also cared a lot about what my parents will think and thus committing to a decision became hard, I would say that I was in a dilemma. I hate to confess that I never settled for a career that would make me happy as I did put a lot of consideration to the gender beliefs I had while at the same time caring a lot about what others will say.

I enrolled in college at a young age, but by now, I had matured. After a long soul searching and rationalizing a lot of aspects, I decided that I will not give my eagerly waiting parents any more a hard time, I had to decide what I wanted to do in college. Nonetheless, after becoming mature, I understood what life was all about, and things were clearer now, I wanted to pursue psychology, to understand human behavior and how people think, and I went for it. I can confess that by this time I had made my self-identity, I had a stronger sense of direction and my peers had little to do with the decisions I made. I was now in the Identity achievement stage, after a long struggle of confusion and identity searching.

References

Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2015). The life span: Human development for helping professionals.