Natalie SapkarovEPSY 430, section 4April 10, 2008

Case Study Analysis: Identity Development in Joan and Ann

Adolescence could be considered by some to be the most chaotic and

tumultuous stage of the human life cycle. Change is occurring in every

aspect of adolescents’ lives: biologically, socially, cognitively, and

emotionally. With these various changes comes the need to shape one’s

identity, to become someone with distinctive and distinguishable

characteristics. Working with the definition of identity as “a fairly stable

sense of who you are that seems to be shared by significant people in your

life and is expressed in various roles” (Ryan), I will examine two adolescents,

Joan Garcia and Ann Smith from Patricia Hersch’s case studies in A Tribe

Apart, and the ways in which their identities are created, supported, and

fostered through their environments and their social networks. Although Joan

and Ann share similar influences in their lives, expressed through their

shared interest in the school newspaper and their turbulent home lives, their

identities are uniquely shaped by their personal experiences and coping

strategies.

Joan and Ann know each other from working on the school newspaper

together. Although they are not necessarily friends, they work well together

to meet their deadlines, and they both have a passion for the newspaper.

Ann’s passion comes from within: “it is something I feel really strongly about:

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reporting what happens. People have a right to know what’s going on. I want

to be a part of that’” (Hersch 112). Ann’s enthusiasm for the newspaper

represents the psychological aspect of identity development, having a

“stable sense of who you are” (Ryan), as Ann knows what she is deeply

interested in and she pursues it actively. The same is true for Joan, though

her passion for the paper has more to do with feeling a sense of place and

belonging within her school and being able to express her thoughts and

opinions publicly (Hersch 112). As both of these girls develop their interest in

the school newspaper, they are also developing a part of their adolescent

identities by taking control and exploring their interests. As members of a

collaborative newspaper team, they (as well as the rest of the newspaper

staff, and especially Mr. Ward, their journalism teacher) nurture each other

by providing support to develop this interest, since they are sharing this

experience. They both understand the pressures and thrills of working on the

newspaper and are able to both commiserate and celebrate their pitfalls and

triumphs together.

Another key similarity between Joan and Ann is represented in their

home environments. Because they both have younger siblings and they both

have caregiver relationships with their siblings (Arnett, “Family” 190), Joan

and Ann often have adult responsibilities such as knowing where their

siblings are and that they’re safe as well as household chores such as

cooking and cleaning. This affects their identity development because it

forces them to “grow up” at a much quicker pace, imposing more changes

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than are usual for adolescent development, which is already a stressful

enough time as it is. When it comes to their parents, Joan and Ann both have

authoritarian parents who have exceedingly demanding expectations of their

daughters, showing little support or affection (Arnett, “Family” 194). Ann is

luckier, however, as she has a second family consisting of her father and

stepmother, though they live far away, who actually do support and care for

her. Even though the two girls hold these characteristics in common, Joan

and Ann develop unique identities, owing to their personal experiences as

individuals.

Joan lives with her father and younger brother, moving to Reston after

her mother abandoned the family when Joan was only ten years old (Hersch

210). From this point, “Joan was expected to become the woman of the

house, to clean, cook, and take care of her little brother” (Hersch 210). Her

father kept her isolated in the house, not allowing her to go out with friends,

and busied her with household chores that were meant for women (Hersch

210). Her father not only expected Joan to come home after school to take

care of her brother and the other household duties, but he also did not offer

her any encouragement or affection. As a key player in her identity

formation, Joan’s father took a backseat in supporting his daughter and

instead relied on her to support the family in various ways. Because her

mother was also absent, Joan had no adult family member to go to with her

stresses and problems. Therefore, as Joan was negotiating the multiple and

complex aspects of her emerging identity, she only had herself as a support

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system, which is certainly not enough considering the amount of change she

was going through.

Joan’s early adolescence was spent in isolation when she most longed

for friends. In fact, “friends become increasingly important people during

adolescence—the source of adolescents' happiest experiences, the people

with whom they feel most comfortable, the ones they feel they can talk to

most openly” (Arnett, “Friends” 225), but Joan was not able to develop this

type of intimate relationship. Her peer influences on her identity consisted of

acquaintances she had at school, people she could not open up to and

people who she felt separate from. By not having this normally positive

adolescent experience, Joan missed out on having that support from close

friends in forming and fostering her identity. Because she relied on herself,

Joan had to learn how to cope with her situation.

Over time she came up with a solution. The problem, as she saw it, was that she had taken whatever life dished out. No more. She decided she was going to fight back. When she was twelve, she moved to Reston with her father and brother. ‘It was an opportunity for me to make a whole new person of myself.’ (Hersch 210-1)

Her solution, however, was not the most productive nor the most well-

adjusted response to her situation in life. She lashed out her anger at people,

bullying kids at school, and starting fights. She put on a “tough girl” attitude

and no one dared mess with her. For a time, Joan tried on the identity of this

hard, carefree, violent girl, which represents the behavioral aspect of

identity, that which is “expressed in various roles” (Ryan). But after an

incident with a boy at school where she pushed the limits of how much she

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could hurt people, Joan had a change of heart and decided to cast this bad

attitude aside and begin exploring who she really is because “if adolescence

is about trying on different identities, maybe it was time for her to be

someone else” (Hersch 212). During this time, Joan enlisted the support of

an old friend from middle school, who “became a lifeline” and “got her

through her transition” (Hersch 213-4). Joan finally had someone in her life

who would care for, support, and nurture her in her pursuit of figuring out

her true identity. What, then, was the outcome of this early adolescent’s

identity searching process?

In the last months of her freshman year, the real Joan began to emerge. She started dressing in long skirts and Indian tops. She changed her hairstyle […] She stayed true to herself, communicating in kinder ways, smiling more, doing things for people, and pretty soon she developed a new set of closer, more gentle friends. (Hersch 214)

It seems as though Joan has successfully navigated her identity voyage and

become the person she wants to be. I will note briefly, however, that Joan’s

journey does not in fact end here and instead takes her through a whole new

set of rollercoaster rides, with a bout of depression and attempted suicide,

common to teenage girls in her circumstances (Steinberg 464). For the sake

of this analysis’ purpose, though, I will move on to Ann’s identity process.

Ann’s home life is just as stressful as Joan’s. Instead of an absentee

mother, Ann has a control-freak of a mom. Her parents are divorced (and

both remarried), but her father lives in Florida, so Ann doesn’t get to see him

as often as she would like. Her mother, like Joan’s father, has high

expectations of Ann, not allowing her to be on the cross country team

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because her grades weren’t good enough (Hersch 313). Ann also has to

constantly worry about her younger sister Courtney, also in high school,

because her mom expects her to know her whereabouts at all times. She has

never received any encouragement from her mother and is either being

neglected or put down. She is not given any freedom but is supposed to

assume adult responsibilities. In regard to Ann’s identity development, “in

the optimal situation, parents will reinforce and stimulate this process of

growing autonomy, self-determination, and independence” (Eccles et al. 97)

—it is clear, however, that Ann does not live in this ideal environment. Her

home environment is best described in this passage:

Theirs is a home where everybody lives together separately, the lines of demarcation drawn by the parents. They generally eat individually […] The house is staked out into territories for the children and the adults […] There is no place they feel at home except their bedrooms, and even there their mom feels free to intrude and snoop at will. (Hersch 201-2)

Suffice to say, Ann’s family, the people who she lives with, is not supporting

Ann’s identity development in any positive way, if only to provide an

example of who not to be.

This is puzzling, though, because Ann actually has a very strong

personality and seems to know exactly who she is and who she wants to be.

She has firm opinions and wonderful nurturing qualities that her mother

certainly doesn’t have—where did they come from? Ann “thinks she learned

to be loving and nurturing from her grandparents” (Hersch 203), and she

also has a great relationship with her dad. She has a steady boyfriend, Ron,

of two years, who has been a source of conflict with her mom because of his

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race, but mostly has had a positive impact on her life because he is someone

she can talk to and be intimate with (Hersch 195). Because Ann does not like

to be at home, she spends much of her time babysitting and has developed

good relationships with the parents of the children she sits for, who offer her

encouragement and kind words (Hersch 322). Ann also has several good

girlfriends, most notably Linda, “who’s been with her through thick and thin,”

consoling her when her home life was unbearable and offering solace to her

worries (Hersch 322). With all of these supportive influences in Ann’s life, it is

no surprise that she has developed a clear sense of who she is: nurturing,

dependable, strong-willed, caring, and outspoken. Looking at the behavioral

aspect of Ann’s identity, that which is “expressed in various roles” (Ryan),

we can see these traits evidenced in her diligence and love for babysitting,

her willingness to help her friends in any situation such as scheduling an

abortion (Hersch 196-200), and her work on the school newspaper.

After reviewing the psychological and behavioral aspects of these two

girls’ identities, it is time to look at the social aspect, that which is “shared

by people in your life” (Ryan). Because the girls know each other and are a

part of each other’s lives, I thought to demonstrate this concept by showing

what each girl thinks of the other. When Ann describes Joan, she says that

she is:

a very nice person, and great listener. She is extremely sweet and nonjudgmental. That is why everybody finds it easy to get along with her, although, she is a little environmental and that bothers people after awhile, but that is just one of her quirks like we all have. (Hersch 105-6)

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Joan comments that Ann “didn’t take bullshit from people and told it like it

is,” which is close to how Ann thinks others see her (Hersch 106). Although

these are only small bits of the girls’ identities, they seem to be stable

enough that they are being conveyed to the people in, even those on the

outskirts of, their lives.

Identity development in adolescence is a complex process, intertwined

with the everydayness of adolescent development and influenced by

anything and everything important to adolescents. Joan and Ann shared

many of the same influences in their lives, but they grew as two separate

individuals, coping with their situations differently and growing into two very

different adolescent girls. From the shared interest of being on the school

newspaper and similar home environments, Joan and Ann branched out into

their own worlds and dealt with different situations, contributing to their

process of identity formation. Because Ann had more positive influences in

her life, namely more positive people to nurture and support her, her identity

seemed to flourish and then stabilize throughout the course of this case

study. Unfortunately, Joan experienced a bit more turbulence in her life, and

even though she did reach a point where she could learn to be herself, she

did suffer from depression, unable to cope with the changes in her life. The

process, however, does not end at the close of this study. Identity

development, I believe, is an ongoing practice, as identities fluctuate and

naturally, people change. After all, it is the process and the influences in our

lives which make us who we are.

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Works Cited

Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. “Family Relationships.” Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A

Cultural Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001. 185-200.

---. “Friends and Peers.” Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001. 225-236.

Eccles, Jacquelynne S., et al. “Development During Adolescence: The Impact of Stage-

Environment Fit on Young Adolescents’ Experience in Schools and in Families.” American Psychologist. 48 (1993): 90-101.

Hersch, Patricia. A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence. New York:

Ballantine, 1998.

Ryan, Allison. Identity development lecture. Mumford Hall, University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign. 14 Feb. 2008.

Steinberg, Laurence. “Psychosocial Problems in Adolescence.” Adolescence. New York:

McGraw Hill, 2008. 434-469.

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