Final answer:
James Marcia distinguished four ways young people cope with the stage of identity versus role confusion in Erikson's psychosocial development theory.
Step-by-step explanation:
Following Erikson's lead, psychologist James Marcia distinguished four specific ways young people cope with the psychosocial stage of identity versus role confusion. The psychosocial theory of development, developed by Erik Erikson, is an expansion of Freud's psychosexual stages. Unlike Freud's focus on psychosexual development, Erikson emphasized the social nature and lifelong process of development, where each stage represents a conflict or task crucial to the formation of a healthy personality.
Erikson's eight stages of development describe the psychological challenges at different ages, from infancy to late adulthood. For adolescents, the challenge is the development of ego identity. Marcia's theory, based on Erikson's work, explores the ways adolescents deal with this challenge, thus contributing further to our understanding of personality development during adolescence.