title: Identity development in deaf adolescents.
abstract: We studied identity development during 5 years in seven deaf adolescents who attended a school for deaf children in the highest level of regular secondary education (age between 14 and 18 years), administering identity interviews every year. Identity development is conceptualized as the processes of exploration and commitment formation (Bosma, 1985). We started from the assumption that because deaf adolescents meet more challenges and also-in our sample-were stimulated in their identity development by school programs, they meet identity conflicts at a relatively early age. The findings were highly consistent with our hypotheses that-compared to a general sample-identity development proceeds faster than in a hearing group and that commitment formation in the domain "Being Deaf" starts earlier than in other domains. We did not find evidence for the hypothesis that commitment formation in this domain in the last year was more mature than in other domains due to a ceiling effect.
authors.affiliation: University of Groningen e.s.kunnen@rug.nl.
authors.forename: E Saskia
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kunnen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003638:Deafness / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012933:Social Identification