“So it’s like, do you like Jeff a lot or, I mean…”

How Women Friends Interactionally Position Personal Identity While Conversing About Desire

Bibliographic Data

ID17822608
AuthorsMadeleine R Kerrick (University of California, Santa Cruz, corresponding author), Avril Thorne (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Year2014
Volume2
Issue4
Pages294-303
Publication date2014-09-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEmerging Adulthood (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-6968 • E-ISSN: 2167-6984
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2167696814549803
OpenAlexW2317033843
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited38

Despite Erikson’s (1968) proposal that identity is a psychosocial task, most existing research in developmental psychology has conceptualized personal identity as an individual, “internalized” phenomenon. The present case study aimed to elucidate how emerging adult friends co-construct personal identities by multiply positioning themselves while dialoguing about their romantic and sexual desires. The participating friends were two White, heterosexual, 19-year-old women, college roommates. We combined microanalysis of positioning in their conversation with analysis of the friends’ individual interviews about their recorded conversation. This dual perspective provided a situated understanding of identity positioning on several planes—vis-à-vis the interactional partner (e.g., She needs support, I’m supporting), the romantic partner under discussion (e.g., I’m mature, he’s immature), and dating relationships generally (e.g., okay with casual relationships). Findings are discussed in relation to theories of personal identity development and the interlocutor’s role in negotiating the developmental tasks of identity and intimacy

Casual · Conversation · Developmental psychology · Erikson's stages of psychosocial development · Friendship · Human sexuality · Personal development · Personal identity · Psychoanalysis · Romance · Self · Sexual identity · Sociology · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Communication · Family Support in Illness · Gender Studies · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub