American psychologists have described adolescence as a period during which young people are concerned about who they are. Erikson (1950) has referred to this as the identity crisis. The cross-cultural evidence suggests that the types of crises faced by the developing young man or woman depends on previous experience, especially during infancy. It also suggests that the individual's search for an identity is present and active during childhood as well as adolesence.

The parental generation is concerned with helping their children accept and understand the appropriate adult identity. In some cultures they do so by sponsoring elaborate rituals that often occur around puberty. These rituals include messages that reassure young people who have conflicts and anxieties about their identity. A careful review of the life cycle suggests that these ceremonies serve as a capstone for identity confusions that have their origins in infancy and early childhood.

Identity can be understood as a person's perception of his or her place in the social structure. Am I a male or a female? A child or an adult? – These are two of the most salient conflicts to be solved before a person becomes a full-fledged, competent adult. It is assumed that one's identity is acquired by the process of identification. There are a number of theories about the details of this process. In a paper on learning by identification I proposed a model that specifies some of the psychological mechanisms involved in this process (Whiting, 1960; see also Burton & Whiting, 1961).