The Great Escape: Linking Youth Identity Development to Growing Up in Post-Communist Romania

Abstract

Romania’s transition from communism to democracy has gradually crafted specific paths of identity development for people growing up in a time frame of great transformations. Most young people in post-communist Romania have developed their identities guided by “imported” life goals, in terms of types of strivings that define a successful person. This chapter analyzes identity development trajectories in different life domains (e.g., education, work) of young people who grew up in post-communist Romania. We critically analyze existing psychological research on identity development of Romanian youth. By detailing possible pathways of identity development, we also focus on possible positive and negative outcomes, cross-cultural similarities and differences, and policy implications of these specific identity trajectories for facilitating positive social integration of Romanian youth.