Toward a Theory of Latino Male Occupational Identity Development: The Role of Peer Identification

ABSTRACT

This article is the third of a three-part qualitative study that retrospectively explored the pre-adult occupational identity development of 20 working-class and white-collar young Latino men. The focus of this article is on the fifth and final pre-adult stage of identity development. Identity theory proposes that the fifth stage of identity development is marked by identity confusion and identity exploration through peer identification. How Latino adolescents undertake the peer identification process is thus critical to understanding their occupational identity development pathways. The study was conducted using semi-structured interviewing techniques. Eleven themes emerged from the data analysis. The working-class participants underwent in high school a wide peer identification process that was reflective of an occupational identity in diffusion status. In contrast, white-collar participants underwent a narrow peer identification process that was reflective of an occupational identity in achievement status. The findings support Erikson’s theorization that peer identification and identity are interconnected. The findings are linked to those of the first two parts of the larger qualitative study, and support a unified theory of how young Latino men develop an occupational identity across the pre-adult lifespan.

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational identity
• Latinos
• peers
• peer identification
• peer group membership

Acknowledgments

This study was conducted with generous grants from the MDRC Gueron Fund and the Center for Child and Youth Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UC Berkeley Center for Child and Youth Policy and the MDRC Gueron Fund.