Why Is Identity Achievement So Elusive?

Sizeable percentages of youths leaving tertiary educational settings appear not to have constructed a sense of their own identity. Both longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have commonly produced samples with fewer than half of individuals in Marcia's achieved identity status upon entering young adulthood. At the same time, many investigations have also pointed to the adaptive features associated with identity achievement as well as the fact that many do attain identity achievement during and beyond late adolescence. This article will review theoretical issues involved in the transition to identity achievement and personality and contextual features associated with this transition. It will conclude by proposing potential reasons for the elusiveness of identity achievement and directions for further research into this perplexing phenomenon.