Identity in Context

This week's reading the discussion of 'context mapping' is explained. The examples that are given are between Mitch, Julian and Antwon. One example given in the article is Mitch had Julien write down important people and things in his life that he comes into contact with in his everyday life. Mitch then had Julien write down the expectations that all of those people and things had of him, which is part of what builds Julien's identity. Context mapping, in a nutshell, is an approach to discover one's own identity using their everyday lives to inform and inspire themselves.

As for the identities, there are four of them and they are as follows: Achieved Identity, Foreclosed Identity, Moratorium, and Diffuse Identity.

Achieved Identity is when "the individual has successfully integrated [his/her] ego identity needs from the past, within the present, and into the future and can therefore display a certain level of self acceptance and ego strength across changing contexts" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 38).

Foreclosed Identity is when "an individual has committed to a life direction or way of being without exploring it carefully and without experimenting with alternatives" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 29).

Moratorium Identity is when "one actively explores roles and beliefs" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 36).

Diffuse Identity is "a state in which there has been little exploration or active consideration of a particular identity and no psychological commitment to one" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 32).

Inventory Quiz and Ideology Horoscope

To start off, I was very close between two of the three YDEV personalities and I actually relate more to the opposite of what I got. The ideology that I got was Critical Youth Development, however, after reading all three ideologies, I thought that I best related to Risk, Resiliency, and Prevention. As for the points system, for Critical Youth Development, I got sixteen points and for Risk, Resiliency, and Prevention I got fourteen points. Regardless of my opinion, I will explain about the Critical Youth Development Horoscope. Critical Youth Development means focuses on wanting youth to engage with and impact their community and culture. Critical Youth Development is about youth critically thinking about their world and what they can do to be apart of it and what they can do to make an impact. Critical Youth Development has adults and youth work together in order to learn more about and understand their environment and create meaning in the world. They also strive to made the world better for not only themselves, but for everyone. Even though I feel like I relate more to the Risk, Resiliency, and Prevention Ideology, I do see some qualities in the Critical Youth Development Ideology that I relate to. I do believe that it is important for youth to connect to their communities, or even a certain community in which they feel accepted such as their school community or an after school community.

When relating to the Risk, Resiliency, and Provention, I truly connected with the Belief Column of the Ideology, that being: "Teens brains are not fully developed, and so teens do not always make the best decisions. Children and teens need specific coaching in how to make good choices for themselves...". Everyone makes mistakes, especially when they are young. Youth can be influenced by adult teachers/mentors in making good choices and can learn how to be good role models for their peers and their communities.

Through the duration of this blog, I was unable to pick one Ideological Horoscope because the two were so close in number, also because I share many common beliefs with both ideologies. I feel like I am both Risk, Resiliency, & Prevention, along with Critical Youth Development. I believe in aspects of both ideologies and it is very hard to side with just one. There are several aspect of my own personality and belief system that I cannot consider to be only one of the ideologies.