According to Erik Erikson, there are eight stages of development an individual will experience throughout his or her lifetime. One of Erikson’s stages, which he named identity versus identity confusion, occurs specifically in the developmental period of adolescence. In this identity vs. confusion stage, an adolescent will explore different roles in hopes to find their positive identity. I believe how adolescents experience this stage is extremely crucial to how they develop and will continue to develop in life. Although there are many different factors that can affect the development of an adolescent, I think that an adolescent’s self-identity is the key component that will affect the maturation of an individual. An adolescent’s self-identity will determine their personal role and status within their environment. According to the textbook, someone’s identity is who a person thinks they are, representing a synthesis and integration of self-understanding. The role an adolescent decides to adopt will determine the types of values they will choose to abide by in the future. This will later determine the types of behavior an adolescent does or does not engage in. During adolescence, adolescents and emerging adults are faced with problems that they didn’t necessarily have to deal with on their own before. During childhood, when faced with a problem, a child would usually expect guidance from their parents for the right or wrong answer. Once someone decides to identify themselves as independent from their parents, they will have to decide how they will cope with the problems presented to them. An adolescent will gradually realize that they will eventually become responsible for their own life, and it is up to them to determine what that life is going to be. Depending on how an adolescent deals with different issues throughout life is also based on their personality, or the identity they most relate to. If an adolescent doesn’t