ABSTRACT
Britain has a history of immigrant and refugee settlement over a long period. The peoples who have adopted Britain as their home country not only originate from other European countries, but also from various other parts of the globe, notably Africa and Asia. Whilst the Muslim population of Britain has increasingly become the focus of inquiry in recent years, most authors have discussed British Muslims along with other Asian or ethnic minority groups and the religious factor has so far been minimised in research. Hemming observes that adolescents do not merely react to endocrine changes within themselves; they react in ways characteristic of the society in which they live. Despite the theoreticians' emphasis on adolescence as a period of breaking away, studies of women and girls appear to contradict any theory postulating separation and individuation to be ubiquitous. Identity has to do with the way in which people define themselves and identify with various other individuals and groups.
