Risky Transitions. Vocational Development between Traumatic Biography and the Search for Identity

Bibliographic Data

ID22010559
AuthorsJulian Valentin Möhring (0000-0003-0781-152X, Klinik für Psychosomatik), Dennis Schäfer (Klinik für Psychosomatik), Burkhard Brosig (0000-0003-3794-9976, Klinik für Psychosomatik)
Year2021
Volume11
Issue12
Pages669-694
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAdvances in Applied Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2165-4328 • E-ISSN: 2165-4336
PublisherScientific Research Publishing, Inc. (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4236/aasoci.2021.1112056
OpenAlexW4206162690
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited27

The article provides insights into the interaction between different stages of identity formation in emerging adults with complex constellations of biographical problems. They went through a program for professional qualification with optional psycho-social counseling following completion of their compulsory schooling. A very specific individuation is demanded of the subject in the transition from youth to adulthood. Biographical interviews were conducted with a total of 10 participants aged 20 to 27 years, and 3 interviews were presented in detail as case studies. They were finally evaluated in terms of in-depth hermeneutics with the aim of understanding the latent meaning of biographical transitions in the light of identity development. Based on the presentation of psychoanalytic development concepts of identity and, above all, Arnett’s theory of emerging adulthood, the interviews are hermeneutically reconstructed and theoretically contextualized. The biographic narratives are understood as expressions of the bio-psycho-social processes of identity-formation as well as the body-bound, habitual and emotional parts of biography. The analysis reveals both the dynamics of progression and regression in career orientation and the risks that may come with the creation of meaningful transitions. It becomes clear that even under conditions of the neglect and traumatization, of parentification and functionalization, emerging adults can fight for freedom and independence

Aesthetics · Biography · Career development · Developmental psychology · Epistemology · Erikson's stages of psychosocial development · Hermeneutics · Identity formation · Narrative · Neglect · Pedagogy · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Psychotherapist · Self-concept · Vocational education · Family Support in Illness · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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