Joining Erikson and Identity Specialists in the Quest to Characterize Adult Spiritual Identity

Abstract

Identity theorists have often assessed spiritual identity as one of many components of a person's ego identity under the assumption that spirituality structures the self and promotes outcomes consonant with other domains of identity. In this article, we analyze presuppositions implicit in this assumption. Drawing from a qualitative study of spiritually devout women and men, we probe whether existing operationalizations of Erikson's theory accurately conceptualize the narratives of spiritually devout women and men. In places where existing operationalizations seem inadequate, we offer several directives for future theoretical construction.