Post on 23-Feb-2023
Who are you and why? Developmental tasks and their catalyst function for
emerging identities in Germany
Meike Watzlawik, Technical University of Braunschweig
Aristi Born, Evangelische Hochschule Berlin
Germany: An Introduction
Located in Central Europe, Germany, or the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik
Deutschland), is a parliamentary and representative democratic republic, with Berlin as its capital
city. It is a founding member of the European Community, a member of numerous multilateral
organizations, and a NATO alliance partner.
Approximately 82 million people live on 357,104 km² that are divided into 16 states
(Bundesländer). Of the Germans, 61.8% are Christians (Catholics 31.0%, Protestants 30.8%), 3.9%
are Muslims, and 1.8% belong to other religions. A total of 32.5% have no church affiliation
(Federal Foreign Office, 2011). With only 8.3 newborns per 1000 inhabitants in 2010, Germany has
the lowest crude birth rate in the European Union (Marcu, 2011). In 2030, Germany is projected to
have 77 million inhabitants, a reduction of 5.7% compared with the number of inhabitants in 2008
(Federal Statistical Office, 2011). This population decline goes hand in hand with a structural
demographic change that is most intensive for people younger than 20. In 2030, demographers
expect 17% fewer children and adolescents in Germany than there are today. The number of adults
between 20 and 65 years old who are capable of employment will decrease by approximately 15%.
Conversely, the age group 65 years and older will increase by about a third, from 16.7 million in
2008 to 22.3 million in 2030. By then, 34.4% of German inhabitants will be older than 65 years and
only 17.1% will be younger than 20 years. In the World Factbook of the US Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA, 2011) these developments are summarized as follows:
“The German economy – the fifth largest economy in the world in PPP [purchasing power
parity] terms and Europe’s largest – is a leading exporter of machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and
household equipment and benefits from a highly skilled labor force. Like its Western European
neighbors, Germany faces significant demographic challenges to sustained long-term growth.
Low fertility rates and declining net immigration are increasing pressure on the country’s social
welfare system and necessitate structural reforms. The modernization and integration of the
Eastern German economy – where unemployment can exceed 20% in some municipalities –
continues to be a costly long-term process […].” (CIA, 2011)
Germany’s adolescents had not yet been born when the Berlin Wall fell. For most of them, the
reunion of Eastern and Western Germany has turned into a positive historical event
(Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung, 2010). Nevertheless, differences between East and West Germany
are still an issue with respect to unemployment rates (13.5% in the East vs. 7.4% in the West;
Federal Jobs Employment Agency, 2010), voting behavior, income, divorce/marriage, and
migrant population (Federal Statistical Office, 2010), usually with fewer migrants in the East. In
United Germany, the major ethnic groups are Germans (91.5%), Turks (2.4%), and other
ethnicities (6.1%), including Greeks, Italians, Poles, Russians, Serbo-Croatians, and Spaniards
(Central Intelligence Agency, 2011). When comparing individuals with and without migration
backgrounds, the following age structures can be found (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Age structure of individuals with and without migration backgrounds in Germany; data is based on the sample census 2005 (Federal Institute for Population Research, 2008, p. 21)
Individuals with migration backgrounds are – on average – significantly younger than
individuals without migration backgrounds (33.8 vs. 44.9 years; Federal Institute for Population
Research, 2008, p. 21). The younger generations are, thus, more diverse than the older
generations, leading to different developmental challenges. But what are these challenges
German adolescents are faced with today? In the following two paragraphs, we will first give an
overview of typical developmental tasks that German adolescents and emerging adults have to
solve nowadays. Then, we will introduce selected tasks and identity facets in a more detailed
manner.
Major developmental tasks in adolescence
Whereas Erik H. Erikson (1966) considered “Identity vs. Identity Diffusion” as the major crisis
of adolescence, in defining crises for the different developmental stages, Robert J. Havighurst
(1956) spoke of developmental tasks that normatively needed to be solved at different times in
an individual’s life. In 1948, he conceptualized developmental tasks for different age periods and
proclaimed that successful achievement of these tasks leads to happiness, societal approval, and
success later in life (Havighurst, 1948/1981). But are these tasks still significant for positive
psychological functioning more than 60 years later, and may they be transferred from the United
States to Germany? The answer seems to be yes; and in fact, experts including social scientist
Klaus Hurrelmann (2007) still speak of central developmental tasks for German adolescents.
This is how Hurrelmann elaborates on the traditional concepts:
1. Development of intellectual and social competence so that educational and occupational
challenges can be solved autonomously. This developmental task is solved successfully when
adolescents are financially independent.
2. Accepting the physical changes one goes through during puberty and establishing close and
intimate relationships to peers of the same and/or opposite sex. This developmental task is
solved successfully when adolescents feel comfortable with their gender as well as their sexual
identities, and have founded long-lasting relationships (e.g., families).
3. Developing self-reliant action paradigms for using commercial offerings of the society
they live in. This includes the media and the ability to deal with money. This developmental task
is solved successfully when the adolescents have come to a self-controlled life style that is in
tune with their needs.
4. Developing individual standards and values as well as an ethical and political awareness
that are in agreement with adolescents’ own actions and behavior. This developmental task is
solved successfully when the adolescents are able to take over cultural and political
responsibilities within the community.
Obviously, different themes and tasks are subsumed among the same categories. Dreher and
Dreher (1997) differentiate further among the following tasks:
(A) establishing peer relationships;
(B) accepting physical changes;
(C) showing behavior that supports one’s gender role;
(D) establishing intimate relationships to a boyfriend or girlfriend;
(E) becoming autonomous from parents;
(F) deciding on a professional career;
(G) developing expectations about founding a family and living in a partnership;
(H) getting to know oneself and finding out more about how others view oneself;
(I) developing an individual life philosophy (values, principles, etc.);
(J) developing a perspective for the future and deciding on goals one wants to reach.
Again, the different tasks overlap conceptually. If, for example, an adolescent decides on a certain
career, future goals can be involved. Getting to know oneself and finding out how others view
oneself is always a part of establishing close relationships. We would go as far as to say that (H) is
the basic question of identity development, one that should be seen as an overarching
developmental task for which all others aspects provide important information (identity facets, see
paragraph XX). Nevertheless, in discussions with 15-to-18-year-old adolescents as well as with
researchers, the above list represented the consensus of important developmental tasks during
adolescence (Dreher & Dreher, 1985). Dreher and Dreher (1985, 1997) asked the adolescents to
evaluate the importance of these tasks in 1985 and, again, in 1997. While in 1985 deciding on a
professional career and getting to know oneself were the most important tasks for boys and girls,
establishing peer relationships (boys) and establishing intimate relationships (girls) were considered
most important in 1997, followed by deciding on professional careers. Getting to know oneself
drops from the second position in 1985 to rank 4 for boys and rank 6 for girls in 1997, reflecting
that occupations are still a central criterion for self-definition in Germany – even more important
than getting to know oneself.
Another interesting finding of Dreher and Dreher was that in 1997, compared to 1985, fewer
significant differences between boys and girls were found. Whereas girls assigned more importance
to developing an individual life philosophy, accepting physical changes, and becoming autonomous
from parents, and less importance to intimate relationships and gender roles than boys in 1985, only
two significant differences between boys and girls remained in 1997, showing that boys and girls
had become more similar in their evaluations of developmental challenges. Girls consider the
acceptance of physical changes more important and gender role development less important than
boys.
Major developmental tasks in emerging adulthood: Old and new challenges
While Dreher and Dreher interviewed adolescents, Born and Krause (2007) examined 157 emerging
adults (35% students, 20% pupils, 45% trainees or professionals) between 17 and 24 years old (M =
20.4; SD = 2.1) in East German driving schools (Saxony–Anhalt) to determine the most important
developmental tasks in their actual lives. In addition to defining developmental tasks, the emerging
adults were also asked to evaluate the degree of current relevance and their coping with the tasks at
present (in %). Born and Krause offered the ten developmental tasks (A) to (J) for adolescents as
defined by Dreher and Dreher (1997) (see page XX), and the eight developmental tasks Havighurst
(1981/1948) specified for 18-to-30-year-old emerging adults:
(A) getting established in an occupation;
(B) finding a congenial social group;
(C) selecting a mate;
(D) learning to live with a steady partner;
(E) managing a home;
(F) taking on civic responsibilities;
(G) starting a family;
(H) rearing children.
This alphabetic sequence reflects the rank order as to what degree the emerging adults of the sample
already had coped with the tasks. The traditional, family-related tasks were least important and
coped with. This goes along with the following statistical data: German females leave their parental
home when they are on average 23.9 years old, their male age-mates when they are 25.1 years old
(Marcu, 2011). In 2003 (Gender Data Report edited by the German Youth Institute, 2005), women
married – on average – 32-year-old men when they were 29 years old, and women were 29.4 years
of age when their first child was born.
The three most significant developmental tasks dealt with occupation and career orientation
(selecting and preparing for an occupation and an economic career as well as getting established in
an occupation). Developmental tasks for adolescents were still important for emerging adults,
although these tasks were also ranked high in terms of coping. Other than the career establishment
task (total relevance rank 3, total coping rank 8) for emerging adults, the first eight most important
and also best-coped-with tasks were taken from among the adolescents’ tasks. The task “Finding
out who you are” was ranked 8 in relevance, and emerging adults already coped with that task on an
average of 63.3% (SD = 23.5%, coping rank 7). In a path model, this study showed that self-esteem
measured with the Multidimensional Self-Esteem Scale by Schütz and Sellin (2006) was a positive
predictor for the total degree of coping with the developmental tasks and well-being.
In another study, Born (2003) asked 201 emerging adults if there were developmental tasks not
mentioned by Havighurst but still important for the 18-to-30-year-olds. Their answers were
summarized in three categories: achieving financial independence, testing one´s intellectual and
vocational limits, and exploring different ways of life. For students as well as for non-students, the
most important tasks were:
1. getting along with studies and/or vocation;
2. learning to live with an intimate partner;
3. gaining more autonomy from parents (with a stronger emphasis on financial independence by
the students).
Least important for students and non-students were the traditional developmental tasks “starting a
family” and “rearing children.” With regard to the self-assessed degree to which they had already
coped with the developmental tasks, there were significant differences between students and non-
students: Non-students reported higher degrees of coping with the tasks “choosing a steady
partner,” “financial independence,” and “testing one’s vocational limits” than students. Students had
a higher degree of coping with the tasks “finding a congenial social group” and “social-political
engagement” than non-students.
Measured with the Ego Identity Process Questionnaire (EIPQ; Balistreri, Busch-Rossnagel, &
Geisinger, 1995), students had significantly higher exploration means than non-students, and non-
students reported significantly higher commitment than students of the same age. For these non-
students, commitment had positive effects on their degree of coping with six different
developmental tasks and on their mental health. Non-students reported a more positive well-being
than their age-mates at universities. A total of 61.9% of the students and 50% of the non-students in
the age-period between 18 and 25 answered the question, “Do you feel that you have reached
adulthood?” with “Yes and No.” As Arnett (2000) specified for the US culture, many twenty-
somethings in Germany are also in an extended state of adolescence and (subjectively) may not
become full adults until they reach their mid-20s or even later. Participants who felt that they had
already reached adulthood had a higher degree of coping with respect to the task “finding out who
you are” (d = .41; p < .05) and were more established in a career (d = .69; p < .001) than their
ambivalent peers (Born & Krause, 2007).
For Havighurst (1948/1981), selection and preparation for an occupation as well as the formation of
a socio-politico-ethical ideology were the underlying processes of identity achievement. It is
possible that identity achievement is no longer essential for understanding the identity issues
adolescents have been faced with since the end of the last millennium. At the beginning of the 21st
Century, young people in Germany do not view general identity formation as one of the top relevant
developmental tasks, and this is true for both adolescents and emerging adults. Erikson (1966)
focuses on identity diffusion as the opposite pole of a successful identity development, but under
the variable social and cultural conditions in emerging adulthood – especially the renunciation of
clear societal norms and orientations – diffusion can also be seen as functional. New opportunities
are easier to seize if commitments are loose and the exploration engagement stays flexible
(Krappmann, 1997).
Identity structure and developmental processes
While commitment and exploration are often used as variables to capture developmental processes
(Marcia, 1966), they are usually examined for different life domains; for example, the field of study,
school, or occupation in general, friendships, or gender roles (e.g., Meeus, 1996; Watzlawik, 2007).
Two different concepts are combined here: structure and process. While identity structure reflects
the different domains or facets that an individual uses (or that are used by others) to define him- or
herself (“Me as friend, psychologist, German, etc.”), identity development processes describe how
an individual arrives or does not arrive at this structure. To determine identity structure, we must
ask questions such as: “What does it mean to you to be a woman?”, “How did you arrive at the
conclusion that you are a friend?”, or “How did a certain event influence your self-definition as a
woman or friend?” The answers to these questions are always connected to positioning oneself in
time (Who am I, who have I been, and who do I want to become?), and to changing societal frame
conditions, such as the growing demands of mobility, that influence individual pathways (e.g.,
Keupp, 1997). Today, as mentioned above, individuals might adapt to the changing demands of
their environment more quickly when commitments are loose or perhaps non-existent. But is it
really possible to be “well-diffused” in terms of identity? By the second half of the 1980s, Marcia
(1989) had already noticed a dramatic increase of identity diffusion among students. He suggested
splitting identity diffusion into four subgroups: disturbed, carefree, developmental, and culturally
adaptive diffusion. Kraus and Mitzscherlich (1995) observed similar identity types in Germany
using a discursive analytical approach based on semi-structured interviews with a total of 160
young adults, 18 to 22 years old, in Saxony (Eastern Germany) and Bavaria (Western Germany).
Born (2007) formulated a questionnaire to differentiate between the four subgroups of identity
diffusion, and studied their correlations with subjective well-being and the personal resources “self-
efficacy” and “self-esteem.” Items were constructed for the two relevant domains of emerging
adults: studies/work and friendship. The results showed evidence for differentiating between the
four subgroups of identity diffusion, but did not prove the general functionality of a diffuse identity
status in emerging adulthood. As expected, there were strong negative correlations between
disturbed diffusion, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and well-being for both domains. Disturbed diffusion
comes closest to identity diffusion as defined by Erikson (1966). Developmental diffusion showed
negative correlations as well. The emerging adults examined were probably on their way to
achieving identity, which was not comfortable for them at the moment. It would have been
interesting to follow this subgroup longitudinally. Carefree diffusion was positively correlated with
self-efficacy, self-esteem, and well-being, but only in the domain of friendship. It was probably
adaptive for the social-life domain of emerging adults, who were still ambivalent. They explored
their potential for emotional and physical intimacy, but still avoided strong commitments such as
marriage and the responsibility of parenthood. Yet carefree diffusion was not adaptive with regard
to subjective well-being for the studies/work life domain. Emerging adults seemed to be open to
new social opportunities, but they also cared about education and a good job. The higher scale
means for carefree diffusion in both life domains for men confirmed the results of Kraus and
Mitzscherlich (1995), who found that the carefree surfer in a sea of possibilities was in most cases
male. Culturally adaptive diffusion showed that diffusion can be functional and adaptive in
emerging adulthood, at least for the domain of studies/work. According to Kraus and Mitzscherlich,
culturally adaptive diffusion was higher for men than for women, and higher for single persons than
for participants who were living with a partner and could not jump independently at the first
opportunity.
Coming back to the question of whether German adolescents and emerging adults can be “well-
diffused,” the answer is yes. They can be diffused “carefree” in the life-domain friendship and feel
good about it, which would seem to be more difficult in the life-domain studies/work. With regard
to studies and vocation, it seems more functional to be diffuse in a culturally adaptive way. This
means the emerging adults chose loose commitments and weak explorations based on adaptivity to
the demands of mobility and flexibility. Reasons for these findings are discussed in the following
paragraph.
Occupational identity: Changing demands
Looking at the developmental tasks of adolescence and emerging adulthood as discussed above,
choosing and managing career paths are major challenges for these age groups. The latest
discussions in Germany show that the developmental task of deciding on a professional career, in
particular, reflects recent changes. In the German school system, adolescents may attain three
educational levels: Hauptschule (9 years of school), Realschule (10 years of school), and
Gymnasium. The Gymnasium used to be 13 years of schooling, but was changed to 12 years
without reducing the work load for the students. The argument for this change was that in many
(European) countries, 12 years of schooling seems sufficient to prepare the adolescents for – among
other things – their future careers. Arguments against this change include the following:
Adolescents’ cognitive development might peak at the age of 12 to 13, but is often not terminated
until the age of 21. In particular, the prefrontal lobe, which is responsible for considering
consequences and making rational decisions, develops last (Weinberger, Elvevåg, & Giedd, 2005).
The task of deciding on one’s occupation and preparing for it has become more complex than it was
100 or even 50 years ago. Adolescents are faced with less distinctiveness and more diversity and
heterogeneity in the vocational field. The vocational field thus cannot be used as a clear means of
identity achievement. Adolescents can no longer follow the concrete guidelines to adulthood that
past generations took for granted. A lot of them will choose jobs their parents did not even know
about, or they will work in multiple part-time jobs and create their own specific and flexible
portfolio careers. Best prepared for this career market in Germany are those individuals who have
efficient self-management techniques, are flexible, and are able to find the information needed for
deciding autonomously. While this is already difficult for adolescents who are looking for an
apprenticeship, it is even more difficult for adolescents or young adults who are looking for the
right course of study. Based on the Bologna Accords, a declaration signed in Bologna, Italy by 29
European countries in 1999, a European Higher Education Area was supposed to be created as of
2010. Its goal was to establish academic degree standards, and to make quality assurance standards
more comparable and compatible throughout Europe. As of this writing, 80% of all traditional
degrees in Germany (Diploma, Magister, etc.) have been changed to Bachelor’s and Master’s
Degrees. These constitute more than 11,500 programs of study. The remaining 20% are mostly
those programs that finish with a state examination (Staatsexamen), such as medicine or law
(German Federal Labor Market Authority, 2010). Subsequent to the Bologna Accords, all colleges
and universities in Germany were asked to create their own profiles by establishing specialized
degrees – which they did. The effect was that finding the right career within the manifold
opportunities now presented has become even more difficult. The bachelor teaching programs, for
example, are now often specialized for working with certain target groups (children, adults, etc.),
which does not allow individuals to experiment with what fits them best. Internships might be a
solution, depending on how they are timed during the school year. Another question must be
answered: When can adolescents find out what they want to become later? Career counseling, when
offered in German schools, tends to be very brief. Career guidance counseling as offered in the
United States can hardly be found; and once you have decided on a career path, it is set unless you
quit, as many students have done in the past. During the years 2002 to 2006, about one fourth of all
German students left their programs of study without degrees; most of them started over, while
others did not. 18% of those who dropped out stated that they could no longer identify themselves
with their former vocational choice. But the most frequently given reasons for quitting school,
among 31% of all students, were performance problems (Federal Ministry of Education and
Research, 2010).
Since the universities introduced Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, student dropout rates have
changed – not for the better. In 2000, during the era of the old degrees (Diploma, Magister, etc.),
students quit their programs on average after 7.6 semesters. In study programs with a Bachelor’s
degree, students break off on average after 2.6 semesters (Heublein, Hutzsch, Schreiber, Sommer, &
Besuch, 2010). In Bachelor’s programs, 30% of the students abandon their studies. These alarming
results stress the importance of taking a closer look at the transition to college life in emerging
adulthood. Overall, this transition is a normative critical life event for emerging adults who have
access to higher education, and a prolonged period of education is becoming more prevalent in
Germany. This can be illustrated by the increasing numbers of newly enrolled college freshmen.
The percentage of young adults from the same age cohort who have just started their academic
studies rose from 35.7% in 2006 to 46.1% in 2010 (Federal Statistical Office [Germany], 2011).1
Today nearly half of Germany’s young adults are faced with the transition to college, which
includes massive changes in their living conditions and day-to-day routines. For many freshmen,
this change is accompanied by social and location transitions, especially if they move away from
home. Some freshmen start with “sunlit steps” and face new tasks as challenges, while others feel
they are “stumbling in the dark” (Smith, 2002) towards an insecure future. Compared to other life
domains, 200 students at the West German University of Bielefeld (North Rhine–Westphalia)
blamed most of the stress in their lives on their academic studies (Stock & Kramer, 2000). In 2008,
Born, Crackau, and Thomas asked 157 freshmen ages 18 to 24 about their transition to college life
at the East German University of Magdeburg (Saxony–Anhalt). These students identified the highly
selective environment and competitive pressures, demanding study programs, dissatisfaction with
their personal way of working, lack of money, and insufficient leisure time as the most constraining
stumbling blocks on their first lap through the university. This study aimed at a salutogenetic view
in discovering positive effects on the freshmen’s subjective well-being, by focusing on
Antonovsky’s sense of coherence (SOC; Antonovsky, 1981) and following the transactional stress
theory of Lazarus (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987). Structural analyses showed that SOC, with its three
components (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness) was a direct positive predictor
with regards to positive appraisal, problem-oriented coping, and well-being. Born and Ballerstein
(2011) examined another resource for improving the freshmen’s well-being. Their online study of
360 students from different regions of Germany, all engaged in a steady partnership, and studying
in their second semester, showed positive effects for dyadic coping, which is how couples cope with
1Due to the demographic development in Germany (see “Germany: An Introduction” at the head of this chapter), the absolute number of freshmen is expected to decrease as of 2020.
stressful tasks (Bodenmann, 2000). Especially for females, dyadic coping had positive effects on the
habitual subjective well-being, life-satisfaction, and study performance.
One thing these findings stress is the importance of intimate partnerships. That is why we will take
a closer look at the developmental task of establishing intimate relationships, and along with this,
the facet of sexual identity.
Sexual and gender identity: What is the difference?
In English, the terms sex and gender describe two aspects of gender identity. While sex refers to the
biological sex (male/female) of an individual, gender refers to the psychological consequences
(masculinity/femininity) or gender roles a person is taking on. The biological sex can correspond
with a person’s gender identity, but does not necessarily have to. Transgender and transsexual
identities are discussed more openly nowadays than they were only decades ago (e.g., Sobiech &
Watzlawik, 2009), although more educational work is needed to reduce prejudice and
discrimination. Schools rarely address these issues of identity, so that information is usually spread
with the help of TV, or, even more importantly, the Internet. (An interesting German site that
informs about transgender and transsexual identities can be found at www.seitenwechsel-online.de.)
In German, sex and gender should both be translated as Geschlecht. To clarify just what is being
discussed, the terms “biological” (sex) and “psychological” (gender) must be added to Geschlecht.
The German word Sex does not refer to the two aspects of gender identity, but to sexuality and
sexual behavior. While gender identity describes self-definition as man or woman (or neither of the
two) and the behaviors that underline these categorizations, sexual identity addresses the
developmental task of becoming aware of one’s sexual feelings, and first acting on them in intimate
partnerships during adolescence.
Even though all identity facets can be considered as developing and changing throughout the
lifespan, there are developmental stages where some facets become more prevalent than others.
Gender identity, learning about gender categories, gender role stereotypes (for a critical
consideration of the concepts of masculinity and femininity, see Watzlawik, 2009), choosing what
gender one identifies with, etc., is already a major task addressed during childhood (cp. Trautner,
2008). In adolescence, physical changes and a growing interest in the other and/or the same sex as
triggered by sexual maturation again challenge and change an individual’s gender identity. What do
these changes mean for self-definition as man, woman, or transgendered? For adolescent girls,
dissatisfaction with their bodies may be attributed to the female ideal of beauty, to a greater extent
than boys’ dissatisfaction is linked to the masculine ideal (Watzlawik, 2008). Yet adolescent boys
value gender-role corresponding behavior more highly than girls do. It is more important for these
boys that they generally fulfill what is societally and stereotypically expected for men; girls do not
value this developmental task nearly as much as boys do.
While becoming aware of one’s sexual feelings towards the other or the same sex might influence
gender identity, it has to be considered a separate developmental task. Sexual orientation is one
major aspect of an individual’s sexual identity, referring to desired and actual sexual behavior and
feelings. Homosexual and bisexual teens do not change their core gender identity when they
become aware of their feelings and desires, but gender role stereotypes also include expectations
concerning an individual’s sexual orientation. In heteronormative societies – and Germany, even
considering growing tolerance and acceptance, can still be seen as such – it is usually expected that
women be sexually and emotionally attracted to men and vice versa. Nevertheless, other non-
normative sexual orientations can be found in every society, even if the information about
frequencies varies widely. In Germany, usually 5% to 10% of the population is considered to be
homosexual or bisexual (cp. Hurrelmann, 2007). Variations can be explained by the questions asked
in these surveys, and, of course, by the populations examined. Klein’s Sexual Orientation Grid is
rarely used to “measure” an individual’s sexual orientation, even if it is one of the rare models that
reflect the construct’s complexity. Klein, Sepekoff, and Wolf (1985) differentiate between sexual
attraction, sexual behavior, sexual fantasies, emotional preference, social preference, self-
identification, and heterosexual/homosexual lifestyle. In surveys, only one of these seven aspects is
usually used to assess sexual orientation.
Sexual identity thus includes the multifaceted concept of sexual orientation(s). The developmental
task is to become aware of and accept one’s sexual orientation. In addition to this, sexual identity
also involves the development of values that allow for responsible sexual behavior: responsible
with regard to one’s own needs and, of course, in regard to the needs of sexual partners (Watzlawik,
2004). Sexual behavior, as well as sexual orientation, always includes choices about emotional
preferences as well (“Do I have sex with someone I love or is being in love not part of my sexual
experiences – or can both be part of my life?”). With these questions, it becomes clear that sexual
identities are often experienced and explored within intimate relationships.
In fact, Dreher and Dreher (1985/1997) included “intimate relationships” as an independent task,
not subsumed under “peer relationships,” after interviewing adolescents in 1985. This task even
gained importance in the 1997 study, especially for female adolescents, increasing from 74% to
76% for the boys and from 49% to 81% for the girls. These results suggest that intimate partnership
and sexual attraction became more preeminent for boys and girls in the last days of the 20th century.
Peers offer the social laboratory for experimentation and exploration as well as the conventions for
the externals of life, such as hairstyle, fashions, and music (Havighurst, 1948/1981). In contrast,
partnerships help one to explore and negotiate individualistic beliefs in a more intimate frame.
In Germany, many heterosexual adolescents experience their first sexual intercourse at the age of 16
(see Table 1).
Table 1: Results of a survey conducted by the Federal Center for Health Education (2010, p. 121), interviewing 17-year-old, sexually experienced adolescents
%
Girls Boys
First sexual intercourse
at the age of …
German Migration
Background
German Migration
Background
13 or younger 4 4 8 11
14 19 12 8 14
15 25 22 27 26
16 39 51 42 37
17 13 12 15 12
Adolescent girls with migration backgrounds wait longer, on average, to have sex than girls without
migration backgrounds. Boys with migration backgrounds wait, on average, for a shorter time than
boys without migration backgrounds. These results are based on a representative study by the
Federal Center for Health Education (2010), for which 3,542 adolescents, 14 to 17 years old, were
interviewed. For the above-presented results, the data from all 17-year-old participants who already
had experienced their first sexual intercourse was analyzed. Of the girls with no migration
background, 34% were not yet sexually experienced at age 17, compared to 47% of the girls with
migration backgrounds. Of the boys, 35% with no migration background were inexperienced, while
only 28% of boys with migration backgrounds indicated the same.
While heterosexual girls with migration backgrounds seem to take the longest to become sexually
active, homosexual adolescents probably take the longest to act on their feelings. Biechele,
Reisbeck, and Keupp (2001) conducted an online study with gay adolescents and came to the
conclusion that these adolescents fall in love about 1.5 years later than their heterosexual peers, and
that experiencing the first intimate partnership takes as much as 2.5 years longer. The first sexual
experiences, often with a partner of the opposite sex, are made approximately at the same age as
those of their heterosexual peers (Biechele, Reisbeck, & Keupp, 2001; Barber, 2000).
Becoming aware of sexual and emotional attraction towards persons of the same sex still is
shocking or confusing to most German adolescents (Watzlawik, 2004). Before even thinking of
acting upon their feelings, these adolescents have to accept their being different from others. Many
deny or suppress their feelings at first, which explains why some engage in opposite-sex
experiences without being in love. The often-experienced desperation and fear of discrimination is
underlined by the high rates of (attempted) suicide in homosexual and bisexual samples; rates are
approximately 5 to 10 times higher than in heterosexual samples (Plöderl, 2005). Homosexual and
bisexual adolescents have to explore their sexual orientations, and commitments take time and
effort. Former self-constructs, including who one was and who one wanted to become, are
questioned and have to be re-organized (Watzlawik, Schachter, & Cunha, in press). While most
heterosexual adolescents do not question their sexual orientation, and thus can proceed with solving
the developmental task of “establishing intimate relationships,” homosexual and bisexual
adolescents are faced with a rupture of the expected developmental path (cp. “rupture-transitions”;
Zittoun, 2006). Active exploration is needed to manage this transition, before normative
developmental tasks can be faced.
Watzlawik (2004) examined the resources and obstacles for managing these transitions. An online
study of 809 German adolescents revealed that the better integrated adolescents were in their group
of peers, the more likely it was that they evaluated their homosexual or bisexual orientation in a
positive manner. Negative evaluations became significantly more likely when sexuality was a taboo
subject within the adolescents’ families. The Internet was a helpful medium for finding information
on sexual orientation, the gay and lesbian subculture, coming-out groups, etc., for many
adolescents. Again, sexual education and openness to diversity seems to facilitate positive
development among adolescents. Including information about sexual orientation in schools seems to
be a necessary step towards non-discriminative developmental environments. Suggestions for how
this can be done have been made available by, for example, the European Union and different
national ministries:2 With the slogan Different in more ways than one. Providing guidance for
teenagers on their way to identity, sexuality, and respect, they support countries in educating
adolescents about diversity, including sexual orientation, by providing educational material and
general information.
While peers are usually the first confidants that homosexual or bisexually oriented adolescents
choose when they want to talk about their feelings (Watzlawik, 2004), parents have become more
important for talking about general sex-related questions. In 1980, only 28% of adolescent boys said
that they could talk about sex and sex-related questions with their parents. In 2010, 62% of the boys
(and 67% of the girls) said that they consider their parents to be confidants for these questions. In
general, most German parents feel responsible for the sexual education of their children: 78% of
adolescent girls and 67% of the boys say that they got information about sexuality from their
parents. Nowadays, this education takes place step-by-step and as age appropriate, not, as was
common in the past, through a major “serious one-on-one talk between parent and child” (Federal
Center for Health Education, 2010).
2See http://www.diversity-in-europe.org for more information.
Adolescents from families with migration backgrounds name their parents less frequently as
confidants for sex-related questions (48% of the girls and 33% of the boys). Often, religious beliefs
hinder mainly Muslim parents from talking openly about these subjects. Nevertheless, most
adolescents for whom sexual education in schools is the most frequently named source of
information feel sexually well educated (80% of the Germans, and 67–72% of the adolescents with
migration backgrounds; Federal Center for Health Education, 2010). That this school education,
which includes contraception, is quite successful is supported by the low teenage pregnancy rates of
German adolescents (cp. Schmidt et al., 2006; Matthiesen, 2011) when compared to those of
countries that do not provide widely available and early sexual education, such as the United States
(Guttmacher Institute, 2010). Since there are still countries, like the Netherlands, with even lower
teenage pregnancy rates than Germany, there still seems to be room for improvement.
Intimate partners and objects as symbolic identity markers in emerging adulthood
Intimate relationships are still very important in emerging adulthood, because they help to construct
meaning when societal attention and assistance are rare. Not only persons, but also elements of the
physical environment, can become essential to people’s self-definitions and may have mediating
functions in identity development (Fuhrer, 2004):
• On the one hand, individuals interpret their environments and co-construct meanings with
their social partners to develop their identities.
• On the other hand, individuals shape, create, and re-construct their environments in unique
ways and express their identities in this way.
Born and Crackau (2007) undertook an empirical approach to assess self-representational meanings
mediated by people, as well as by things and places. This study indicates that people as well as
things and places can mediate self-representative functions and become resource providers for
coping with critical life events such as the transition to university life. In accordance with Ziller’s
method, known as autophotography (Ziller, 1990) the researchers asked 157 freshmen from the
University of Magdeburg (Saxony–Anhalt) the following question: “Imagine that you must tell
somebody who you are. You can neither talk nor write to that other person, but you can take
pictures and present yourself with four photographs that tell something about who you are. Which
people, but also things and places, would be in these photographs?” First-year students chose almost
as many places (25% of the 550 fictive photographs) and things (21%) for symbolic representatives
as they did people (48%).3 Favorite persons in the photographs were family members, friends, and
the intimate partner. The most popular “things” were means of transportation, computers, phones,
and sports equipment. The most frequently chosen places were one’s own room, one’s hometown,
the parental home, or nature. People were more meaningful as touchstones of consistency (without
them, one would feel like a different person), self-reflection (they help one to reflect on oneself),
and individuality (with them one can distinguish oneself from others) than things and places. Things
and places were more meaningful for efficacy (they help to test one’s skills), continuity (they help
to remember how a person used to be), and integration (they give the certainty that a person fits in
with others) than people. Stepwise regression analyses for appraisal, coping, and well-being showed
that continuity mediated by things and places was a positive predictor for positive situational
appraisal and for problem-oriented coping. Consistency mediated by people, and integration
mediated by things and places were positive predictors for problem-oriented coping as well.
Furthermore, consistency mediated by people predicted well-being. Females gave people a higher 3Other “objects,” such as animals or events, appeared in 6% of the photographs.
consistency meaning than males; for males, things and places had a stronger efficacy meaning. The
meaning-making functions of things and places with regard to continuity and consistency are very
high for relocated students, probably because they serve as transitional objects.
Social and virtual identities: The influences of Facebook & Co.
Along with physical objects and people, virtual realities offer a new stage for identity development.
Matthiesen’s speech in Beirut (2011) refers to the “Internet Generation in Germany” in discussing
today’s adolescents. In fact, today 98% of all German adolescents are online (BITKOM, 2011a).
The essential point made by a representative study questioning 10-to-18-year-old adolescents in
Germany was as follows: “Today, children and adolescents between 10 and 18 years of age possess
cell phones just as frequently as they possess bikes; computers are even more frequently owned than
soccer balls” (BITKOM, 2011a, p. 6). The most favorite spare time activity for the 13-to-18-year-
olds is meeting friends (68%), followed by surfing the World Wide Web (39%). Only the 10-to-12-
year-olds consider TV, sports, and spending time with family more important than surfing the
Internet. The favorite activities when online are searching for information (76%), watching videos
(73%), chatting with friends (65%), and listening to music (63%) (BITKOM, 2011a). Social media
in particular are becoming more and more popular in Germany: 96% of all 14- to-29-year-olds are
members of a social network site, while 94% say that they actively use these sites (BITKOM,
2011b). Currently 25.5% of the German population is using Facebook (Socialbakers, 2011), making
a total of 20,951,460 users. Of these, 17% are younger than 18, and 27% are between 18 and 24
years old. In the year between December 2009 and December 2010, the number of 13-to-24-year-
old users nearly tripled, going from 2.4 to 6.2 million.
Most 14-to-29-year-olds use social media websites to stay in touch with friends (88%), to arrange to
meet friends (73%) and to meet new people (38%) (BITKOM, 2011b). Using online social
networks is thus an integral part of adolescents’ social identities today. In this regard, social
networks can be seen as nonymous environments that differ from anonymous environments, such as
chat rooms or online role-playing games. In nonymous settings, individuals are identifiable by
name. The user profile generally depicts facets of the person’s identity, or as Yurchisin et al. have
called it (2005, as cited in Zhao, Grasmuck, & Martin, 2008), “hoped-for-possible-selves” instead
of an avatar or fictional character. Interestingly, Facebook users, as one example, claim their desired
identities implicitly rather than explicitly. Adolescents stress group and consumer identities more
than personally narrated ones. They are, for example, socially well accepted when they have a lot of
friends and postings on their walls, or they choose profile pictures that depict themselves together
with someone else. Although the option is given to openly describe oneself in the text field “About
you” only a few adolescents use it for self-descriptions (Zhao et al., 2008).
Besides this positive networking, negative experiences have been realized as well. A total of 36% of
adolescent Facebook users say that they have received unpleasant friend requests, 13% felt harassed
by other members, and 15% say that unauthorized people could access their personal information
(BITKOM, 2011b). The most prominent case for unauthorized access – one with shocking
consequences – concerned a 16-year-old girl from Hamburg, who – by mistake – invited the entire
Facebook community to her birthday party, with the address, time, and date included. Even though
she cancelled the party, 1600 adolescents showed up at her house. Anticipating this, the parents had
hired private security, and 100 police officers were also at the venue so that major damage could be
prevented. Nevertheless, this incident vividly depicts how important it is to educate adolescents
about Internet security and potential online dangers.4 Because parents often do not have the
competencies to provide this education, once again schools seem to be called to duty. Yet skill
enhancement among teachers is still necessary for this.
Besides the described nonymous environments, anonymous ones provide opportunities for Internet-
based identity experiments. In a questionnaire-based study in Dutch schools, 600 9-to-18-year-olds
were asked about online experiences related to identity development. Results obtained by
Valkenburg, Schouten, and Peter (2005) showed that 50% of the adolescents who used the Internet
for chat or Instant Messaging had engaged in identity experiments, such as pretending to be older
than they actually were (49.8%), a more flirtatious person (13.2%), or a person of the opposite sex
(9.5%). The most important motives for these experiments were investigating how others react
(self-exploration), overcoming shyness (social compensation), and facilitating the formation of new
relationships (social facilitation) (Valkenburg, Schouten, & Peter, 2005; Bundesinitiative Jugend
ans Netz, 2005).
Overall, social network sites seem to be very similar in structure and self-presentation opportunities
among various countries, as Khveshchanka and Suter (2010) have demonstrated for Russia,
Germany, and the United States. Findings in these countries might give insight into general
developmental processes during adolescence, because all adolescents are co-habitants of the same
online environment. Nevertheless, social networks often connect people that actually have met in
real life, so that cultural influences and differences are only transported to a new medium. Further
research is needed to specify cultural differences in patterns of conquering and making use of online
worlds. In addition to these possible cross-cultural differences, differences in online usage within
4 If the reader is interested in this case and wants to use online resources to access information, videos of “Thessa’s Geburtstagsparty” can be viewed on Youtube (videos were taken with cell phone cameras). The case offers further proof that adolescents use the World Wide Web with less concern and more implicitness than older generations.
cultures have already been reported. For Germany, the Bundesinitiative Jugend ans Netz (2005)
showed that educational level predicts the strategies with which adolescents use the Internet. The
lower the educational level, the higher the likelihood that the adolescents showed stereotyped
behavior; for example, only visiting websites, especially chat rooms, that they already knew.
Exploring new sites and finding information seemed less difficult for adolescents with higher
educational levels. So, even if almost all German adolescents are online, not all of them make use of
the full potential the Internet offers. The user typology given by the 16th German Shell Study (cp.
Albert, Hurrelmann, & Quenzel, 2010) also describes different motives for using the Internet (see
Figure 2).
This typology can be used to identify potential developmental risks, as for boys (Gamers) the risk
for becoming addicted to online gaming is higher than for girls (Rehbein, Kleimann, & Mößle,
17
25
24
34
Functional Users ("Means to an end"):
Somewhat older and often female
adolescents from all backgrounds
Digital Networkers (Social Web):
Somewhat younger and often female
adolescents from all backgrounds
Gamers (Media consumer): Somewhat
younger and often male adolescents
from deprived families
Multi-Users (Internet expertise):
Somewhat older and often male, upper
class adolescents
Figure 2: Internet user typology of 12-to-25-year-old adolescents and emerging adults that use the Internet on a regular basis (%) (Albert, Hurrelmann, & Quenzel, 2010, p. 3)
2010). This shows that new developments, in this case technical achievements, certainly come
along with new opportunities, but there are also risks that need to be examined.
Cultural identities within Germany
With this identity facet, we saved the most difficult concept for last. Most difficulties originate in
the definition of the term “culture.” What is it? How can it be measured? Throughout this chapter,
we have referred to German adolescents and adolescents with migration backgrounds. Often, the
latter were born in Germany, but their parents were born in foreign countries. Knowing this and
using this characteristic for examining group-differences does not tell us much about the cultural,
self-constructed identities of the individuals involved. As with all other identity facets, we can ask
individuals how they define themselves. Is someone German, Turkish, Polish, European, Afro-
German, or a German-Turk? With the categorization based on nationalities, we arrive at subjective
concepts that need further elaboration. What does it mean for the individual to belong to one of
these or other categories? Does it mean speaking a certain language or languages, looking a certain
way (e.g., skin color), taking a certain religious view, following certain traditions, liking certain
music, food, or clothes, or having been raised in a specific manner? Cultural identity as a facet of an
overall identity structure has to be differentiated from culture as a developmental influence (cp.
Valsiner, 2000) that may lead to different outcomes, such as, for example, the independent and
interdependent selves postulated by Markus and Kitayama (1991). In the case of cultural or ethnic
identity, we are asking individuals what culture they identify with and what it means to them. Of
course, developmental processes, and learning and understanding different cultures, are
preconditions that allow an individual to answer these questions.
Defined in this way, cultural or ethnic identity can be seen as one form of social identity, because
adolescents define themselves through group membership. The challenge is to be part of the group
without being absorbed by it, along with the danger of losing individuality (cp. Brewer, 1991).
Schönpflug (2000) examined adolescents with Turkish backgrounds in Germany. Turkish people
are the largest group of migrants in Germany, primarily because they were invited to Germany as
workers after World War II. Schönpflug was able to show that the centrality of Turkish identity
varies widely among the adolescents examined (those of the second generation). For some, it was
very important to distinguish themselves from German culture; for others, assimilation was very
important, and, therefore, they neither denied nor stressed their Turkish background. The degree to
which they were still surrounded by the Turkish culture within their communities or families also
influenced the centrality of their Turkish identity. If the Turkish culture was still very dominant in
their environments, Turkish identity gained importance for the adolescents examined. Schönpflug
(2000) was also able to show that girls are more likely to assimilate to the German culture, whereas
boys are more likely to insist on their Turkish identities. Whether the Muslim belief system adds to
these results remains unclear.
Schönpflug (2000), as one example of many, examined individual identities. Yet ethnic identity can
also be conceptualized as collective identity, which raises the question of what characterizes a
certain cultural group. Schultz and Sackmann (2001) have examined the Turkish collective identity
and came to the conclusion that characteristics of “the Turks,” from their own perspective, are their
religion, hospitality, helpfulness, and family orientation. Negative characteristics are barely named,
stressing that in-groups are usually evaluated more positively than out-groups.
Although members of the same ethnic group might feel closer to each other than to members of
foreign ethnic groups, especially when surrounded by a foreign culture, intra-group differences are
vast. Sharing the same cultural origin does not make individuals the same. Beliefs, values, likes and
dislikes, personalities, political views, and many other things vary widely. These variations must
not be neglected when conducting cross-cultural studies of ethnic groups. What do the individuals
within these groups really have in common?
In Germany, cultural and ethnic identities are often discussed in relation to integration and/or
inclusion. What can be done to facilitate the transition of one culture to the other? What does a
person need to learn besides the language of the now dominant culture? How much does an
individual need to change to manage this transition? What consequences do these changes have for
the overall sense of identity? The vast research already done and still needed in this field cannot be
summarized here. Instead, we would like to point to a general, often-cited observation, with the help
of a short anecdote:
“Two passengers in a train cabin […]. They made themselves comfortable. Spread out on the vacant
seats, there are newspapers, coats, bags. The door opens, and two travelers enter. Their arrival is not
welcome. It seems unpleasant to clear the vacant seats and to share the overhead compartments. In a
peculiar way, the first two passengers show solidarity even though they do not know each other.
[…] It is their territory […]. The new travelers are [finally] tolerated, one gets used to them, but
they remain, with decreasing intensity, stigmatized. Again, two new passengers open the door of the
cabin. At this moment, the status of the travelers, who entered last, changes. From invaders and
outsiders, they suddenly turn into natives […] with all privileges, that they believe they should
have. Their defense of an “ancestral” territory that they just conquered seems paradox; remarkable
the missing empathy with the newcomers […]. Peculiar the fast forgetfulness […]” (Enzensberger,
1992, p. 14f).
Enzensberger (1992) concludes that migration always leads to conflict. Group-egoism and
xenophobia are, according to him, anthropological constants. Hospitality traditions and rituals were
invented to prevent injuries or even wars, but these traditions are based on maintaining the guest
status of the other. Maybe Enzensberger is right in the sense that humans are always afraid of the
unknown. Instead of concluding that this always must lead to conflict, we suggest – in the manner
of the Department of Health, Social Affairs, Women, and Family of North Rhine-Westphalia (2004)
and Dannenbeck (2001) – to educate about diversity, in any sense possible. The more we know
about the other, the more likely peaceful cohabitance becomes. But it still demands negotiation and
compromise on both sides.
Summary and outlook
In Germany as well as in other countries, identity research offers a variety of methodological
approaches. Methodological discussions in Germany often target the question of whether identity
and identity development should be assessed quantitatively or qualitatively. Depending on the
researcher’s aim, and his or her positioning within the field of psychology, the answer can be the
first, the latter, or a combination of both (see Watzlawik & Born, 2007, for an overview). While
questionnaires usually capture different facets (e.g., social identity, dyadic identity, ethnic identity),
identity status (aiming for a categorization of the Diffused, Explorers, Achievers, and the
Foreclosed), or exploration and commitment as steady variables, qualitative interviews allow for a
closer look at individual meaning-making processes – even if they are again used for
categorizations as in the case of the identity status interview (Marcia, 1993). Qualitative interviews
that target the construction of identity through narrations (narrative identity) are another, very
fruitful approach when individual developmental trajectories and the underlying meaning-making
processes are to be examined (e.g., Straub, 2000; Kraus, 1996). Here, some researchers differentiate
between identity development while solving developmental tasks (normative development; cp.
Erikson, 1966) and identity development while being confronted with critical, unexpected life
events (non-normative development; cp. Filipp, 1995). In both cases, we can, nevertheless, speak of
rupture-transitions (cp. Zittoun, 2006) that are an elemental part of human life: “Human life consists
of stability interspersed with ruptures. Transitions that follow such ruptures offer a window on
processes of change at the level of skill acquisition, identities, but also meaning construction”
(Zittoun, 2004, p. 131). Defining identity development in this manner shows that development
never ends, but is a lifelong endeavor under changing societal conditions.
Emerging identity in adolescence and young adulthood is powered by a bundle of more or less
conjoint developmental tasks. Several studies in Germany, referred to in this chapter, showed that
the subjective relevance of the different tasks, the personal resources available, and the social and
ecological situation affect success in coping with these tasks. According to Havighurst, successful
achievement of the developmental tasks leads to positive functioning in society and personal well-
being. The contemporary situation in Germany, as illustrated in this chapter, offers and tolerates
many ways to deal with the multiple tasks and to define one’s identity.
In this chapter, we have addressed different identity facets and the conditions for their development.
We have identified factors that can facilitate positive development in the various areas; most of
these factors target preparation for living in a fast-changing environment with less stability and
more mobility – within and between nations. Identity achievement has thus become more
complicated, because one has to learn to choose from a vast array of possible options. The
individual has to balance his or her identity in changing situations as well as in flexible social and
ecological contexts. As the German sociologist Lothar Krappmann formulated it in 1969 (see
Krappmann, 1997), identity is a creative act that has to be constructed, negotiated, and balanced
consecutively in interpersonal situations. This is still or even more relevant in the 21st century:
Among all possible identity facets and developmental tasks, social identity and with it the
establishment and maintenance of friendships and intimate relationships seem to be essential for
most young people. At any rate, there is a growing need for orientation, because “only someone
able to orient himself can have the sense and the experience of being able to be more or less self-
identical” (Straub, 2002, p. 62). Orientation in a changing world needs achieved commitments more
than foreclosed guidelines. The knowledge of how to discover, construct, and identify with
commitments as well as the competence to resolve, reflect on, and reconstruct them seem essential
for adaptive functioning and personal well-being. From this point of view, the reduction in years of
schooling from 13 to 12 years in order to get the Abitur (German university entrance qualification),
and tightly structured studies as per the Bologna Accords, must be seen as critical. Instead of high-
speed schooling and the pressure to get better grades than national and international competitors,
adolescents and young adults need time and occasions for exploration. Yet there are positive
examples: Innovative schools offer interesting programs that integrate opportunities to learn in
every sense with work in challenging projects, and promote the importance of responsibilities and
experiences.5 Not surprisingly, the number of young adults who volunteer in civil service for a year
after completing school has increased in Germany. In 2007/2008, 35,144 young people were
involved in social or ecological voluntary services (Bundesarbeitskreis FSJ, 2009), as compared to 5 A presentation of innovative schools in Germany is available under http://www.netzwerk-innovativer-schulen.de/
almost 25,000 participants in 2003/2004 (Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women,
and Youth, 2006). Fortunately, changes do not simply complicate developmental conditions, they
also facilitate them. We will end this chapter with two more positive examples: With the Internet,
relationships can be more easily maintained over long distances thanks to e-mail, social networks,
and Internet-based calls, video calls, or chats. On the worldwide web, adolescents and young adults
find new ways to express themselves and to become recognized in their emerging identity, and
many of them accomplish this in a carefree and joyful manner. Secondly, even if we stress the need
for further education about diversity, positive developments are noticeable. Germany has, for
example, never been as tolerant towards same-sex-oriented individuals as it is today – even though
homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder just 20 years ago.6 Such progressive open-
mindedness will help adolescents accept themselves as people, including all facets of their identities
and their unique potentials.
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