Identity Around the World. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Number 138

Examine the structure and context of identity development in a number of different countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Italy, China, and Japan. While some identity development proceeds in much the same way across national contexts, this issue suggests that there are important nuances in the ways in which identity unfolds in each country. Macrocultural forces, such as permissiveness in Sweden, collective guilt in Germany, and filial piety in China, direct the identity development process in important ways. Expectations regarding obligations and ties to family also direct the identity development process differently in many of the countries included in thi…