Explain Marcia’s approach to identity development.

James Marcia’s approach to identity development during adolescence is as follows:

• Identity foreclosure: Here, adolescents just accept others’ decisions about what is best for them. e.g. a doctor’s son becomes a doctor. These adolescents are happy and selfsatisfied. They tend to be authoritarian and have a need for self-approval. 
• Identity diffusion: Here, adolescents neither explore nor commit to the alternatives. They are socially withdrawn. These adolescents appear carefree but their lack of commitment impairs their ability to form close relationships. 
• Moratorium: Here, adolescents explore some alternatives but make no commitments. They experience high anxiety and psychological conflict. They are lively and appealing and seek intimacy with others 
• Identity achievement: Here, adolescents explore and search about ‘who they are and ‘what they do’. Teens who have reached this stage tend to be psychologically healthier, higher in achievement, motivation, and moral reasoning. 
• Some adolescents shift among all the above-mentioned categories but for most of them identity gels in late teens and early twenties.