Implications of marriage during late adolescence for a healthy identity formation

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the identity formation of late adolescents that enter into marriage. Various theories of identity development state that not passing through the stage of adolescence will result in identity confusion. This might lead to maladjustment in later life, where the individual needs to revisit this stage. This qualitative small-scale study explores what motivates young people to enter into marriage in their late adolescence; and how entering into marriage can affect the individuals' personal life and their roles in marriage. This study indicates that late adolescents enter into marriage when they are not mature enough, which means that these individuals enter into the commitment of marriage without an established identity. Data collection showed that primary and secondary socialisation plays an important role in helping adolescents become independent, mature and hence develop a sense of identity. Failure in exploring the opportunities that the period of adolescence presents, result in a fragile and incomplete identity, and marriage would be serving as a context for new forms of dependence.