Distance and Acceptance: Identity Formation in Young Adults with Chronic Health Conditions

Health has long been a chief concern of life course researchers, especially in examining early life. Research on chronic conditions and their impact on individual identity often center on biographical disruption or the idea of a bifurcation of “before and after” identities. This research examines identity formation in young adults with chronic health conditions that began in childhood, a population that continues to grow. This study focuses on young adults’ narrative identities, both regarding how young adults describe the transition to adulthood and how cultural ideals of young adulthood and actors from institutions influence how they describe themselves. This study uses 22 in-depth qualitative interviews to reveal how young adults distance themselves from their conditions or move to acceptance through the narratives they tell about their health, feelings, and behaviors. This research suggests that identity confirmation by others forms an integral part of the nexus of health and the life course, shaping how adolescents make the transition into young adulthood. Social support from actors in institutions gives room to some young adults with chronic conditions to integrate their conditions into their narrative identities. This study reveals the social nature of young adult identities, and how cultural ideals guide them, precisely because it uses cases of young adults who must transition to adulthood in alternative ways.