Adolescent Identity Development in Japan

Abstract Adolescence is a critical period of identity development. Since identity development occurs between an individual and the culture, we assume that there are diverse pathways of adolescent identity development across different cultural contexts. However, much of the research on adolescent identity development has been conducted in Western contexts. Research on adolescent identity development in Japan, a non-Western country characterized as individualistic collectivism in culture and marked by prolonged adolescence in society, provides insight into how aspects of culture and society are crucial to the global study of adolescent identity development. Evidence from Japanese adolescents highlights differences from their Western peers in the developmental process of identity, including its instability and uncertainty, and similarities in the importance of identity to adolescent psychological functioning for both global and cultural indices. Going forward, researchers need to further clarify the interdependence between adolescent identity and the cultural and social context across and within cultures.