Antivital experience and auto-aggressive behavior in teenagers with “diffuse identity”2

In order to identify the role of “diffuse identity” in the development of antivital experience and auto-aggressive behavior, we examined 60 adolescents (24 boys and 36 girls) who sought for psychological or psychiatric aid in medical and psychological services in Moscow. The average age of the participants was 15,7 ± 6 years. We revealed two groups of adolescents (70%) with moderate to severe degree of “diffuse identity”, who have unique inherent characteristics of identity conflict, structural features, and pattern of interpersonal relations construction. Alto-gether, these characteristics determine the leading pattern of behavior, way of antivital feelings and auto-agressive behavior formation, resources and capacities of adolescents in crisis. Psychological aid in crisis, considering these features and using them, allows one to create new and effective coping strategies that are specific to each group.