Identity integration across cultural transitions: Bridging individual and societal change

Identity research has proliferated in recent years creating a great need for theoretical clarity about the identity concept, and how to use this clarity to understand identities within specific contexts . The present article addresses this need by discussing theoretical aspects of identity development as they apply to another important, yet broad, developmental context: societies in transition . This article includes a brief background on identity research in developmental psychology, an introduction of key theoretical constructs of identity integration, and then finally application of these constructs to understanding identities in transition . The hope is that this theoretical discussion will stimulate further research on identity development in the context of individual and social transitions .