Chapter 11: Recognizing And Responding To Young Adolescents’ Ethnic Identity Development:

The middle school years are a time when young adolescents experience many developmental changes including noticeable physical changes and the hidden, less explicit social, emotional, and cognitive changes. Among the many changes they experience, young adolescents frequently struggle with choosing who they want to be, how they want to act, and what persona they want to project to those around them—collectively known as components of identity development. Developing an identity involves a series of decision-making opportunities that young adolescents find themselves constantly analyzing (Rice & Dolgin, 2005). Cognitive growth during young adolescence provides students with a heightened sensitivity of self and realization of the opportunity to choose new personality traits (Erikson, 1968). Adolescents have choices in their identity development in several areas; choosing an ethnic identity, however, is rarely, if ever, an opportunity—especially for students of color.