ABSTRACT
Theoretical frameworks and research procedures used to study identity formation have been predicated on Western assumptions of the primacy of the individual and have focused on youth growing up in Western sociocultural contexts. Investigators and practitioners need to understand similarities and differences in the ways in which young people experience the tasks of psychosocial development across varying sociocultural, political, and historical conditions. The cultural mediation of identity formation is discussed with reference to youth growing up in Confucian heritage societies. Indications of important differences in developmental tasks and goals for Chinese youth in Asia are found in the author’s exploratory research on identity formation, risk-taking behaviors, and counseling in Singapore and Malaysia.
