The Process of Social Identity - Pennsylvania State University

Journal of Research in Music Education2014, Vol. 62(1) 18 –32

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DOI: 10.1177/0022429413520009jrme.sagepub.com

Article

The Process of Social Identity Development in Adolescent High School Choral Singers: A Grounded Theory

Elizabeth Cassidy Parker1

AbstractThe purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe the process of adolescent choral singers’ social identity development within three midsized, midwestern high school mixed choirs. Forty-nine interviews were conducted with 36 different participants. Secondary data sources included memoing, observations, and interviews with the choir teachers. The data analysis revealed an eight-stage process beginning with the student’s choice to audition and remain involved to the final stage, a desire to give back to the community. The central phenomenon of social identity was identified as team. Contextual conditions, including time, intensity, and size of group, strengthened participant experiences substantively. Social cliques and egos emerged as intervening conditions that impeded social identity development. Several individuals influenced participant social identity including peers, parents, school and community members, as well as the choir teacher. A temporal matrix is presented as well as propositions illustrating the development of social identity.

Keywordsadolescence, choir, social identity, grounded theory

Adolescence is a pivotal time for identity development, as the childhood self learns to integrate with important peers as well as adults (Erikson, 1968). Within an indi-vidual’s social identity, belonging to a peer group is paramount (Newman, Lohman, & Newman, 2007; Tarrant, MacKenzie, & Hewitt, 2006). Peer groups allow an

1Columbus State University, Columbus, GA, USA

Corresponding Author:Elizabeth Cassidy Parker, Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, 4225 University Avenue, Columbus, GA, 31907, USA. Email: [email protected]

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at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on February 18, 2016jrm.sagepub.comDownloaded from

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adolescent to state he or she is someone and belongs somewhere. However, when adolescents are unable to align with a group, it can produce a state of alienation. Alienated teenagers have been found to have a higher incidence of dropping out of school and an increase in psychological and behavioral problems (Altenbaugh, Engel, & Martin, 1995). Alienation also can lead to higher levels of hopelessness, hostility, and negative self-concept, contributing to increased suicide risk (Rutter & Berendt, 2004).

Social identity theory articulates that we are all members of social groups, whether they be large, such as groups based in political affiliation or gender, or small, such as peer groups, where membership is usually earned (Tajfel, 1981). Social identity includes not only our personal self-concept, which is derived from membership, but also the emotional significance attached to the membership (McMillan, 1996). When participants form a group, they reside on the inside, and the group acts as a guide to the individual’s behavior.

Authors of extant studies do not appear to have investigated directly musicians’ social identity development. However, identities in music have been studied within the context of ensemble dynamics, the democratic process of rehearsals, and resultant friendships (Blank & Davidson, 2007; Miell & Littleton, 2008; Murningham & Conlon, 1991). Researchers reported the considerable struggle and compromise needed to make musical decisions democratically. In all studies, music-related deci-sion making engendered shared music knowledge and meaning. Music was the medium by which self-identity was constructed.

Adolescents’ music listening and playing preferences have been found to act as a “badge of identity” outside of school (North & Hargreaves, 1999; Tarrant, North, & Hargreaves, 2000). Furthermore, students’ levels of ownership and autonomy influ-enced out-of-school engagement and motivation (Hargreaves & Marshall, 2003). Research findings indicated that female adolescents tended to use music for mood regulation, while males used music to help create positive impressions with others (North, Hargreaves, & O’Neill, 2000).

Related studies in school music and community choral ensembles have focused on belonging, meaning, motivation, and ensemble singing as providing therapeutic ben-efit (Adderley, Kennedy, & Berz, 2003; Arasi, 2006; Cohen, 2009; Freer, 2009, 2010; Hylton, 1981; Parker, 2010). Authors of studies exploring meaning have posited that music making is socially integrative and acts as a vehicle to self-development, and that participants’ feelings of competency motivated them to continue their participa-tion. Participants experienced psychological benefits as well as enhanced personal qualities, such as responsibility and self-discipline. Specific to Adderley et al.’s (2003) study, the motivation to join school music ensembles included family encour-agement, earlier experiences in music, and the balance that ensembles provided in the academic schedule. Students attached labels to their own participation as well as wore badges of participation, including uniforms. Freer (2009, 2010) articulated that boys’ decisions to participate in choir were individual rather than collective. They were influenced by the choral teacher’s approach to the changing voice, mentorship from older male singers, and personal reasons to make music with others.



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Singing also offers therapeutic benefits for adult members. For incarcerated indi-viduals, Cohen (2009) reported participants’ well-being measures increased with cho-ral participation, and Silber (2005) discussed musical cooperation and harmonic backup as a form of support. Bailey and Davidson’s (2002, 2005) studies found thera-peutic benefit included releasing emotions and experiencing group purpose. The effects of choir and audience reciprocity were important to marginalized participants because they felt that they were contributing something to the larger society.

Past studies provide valuable context and support for this study. They also highlight the need for a study focused on how adolescents develop social identity through the school choral experience. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe the process of adolescent choral singers’ social identity development within three mid-sized, midwestern high school mixed choirs. Research questions included how high school students describe their social identity development, what actions or interactions influence their development, what strategies they use to develop social identity, what intervening conditions get in the way, and what consequences result from high school students’ social identity development. It is my hope that this study may assist teachers, administrators and policymakers to gain a greater understanding of how music experi-ences help to facilitate adolescent social identity within the classroom.

Method

Grounded theory was chosen as a systematic, qualitative approach that focuses on an analytical schema of a substantive process (Creswell, 2007, p. 63). The goal of grounded theory is to explain a process when existing theories do not fit or have not been created (Creswell, 2008). A theory grounded in the data provides a better expla-nation than does one borrowed “off the shelf” because it fits the context, is responsive to the complexities of the topic, and works in practice (Creswell, 2008, p. 432).

Glaser and Strauss (1967) began the grounded theory approach in efforts to build theory inductively rather than deducing hypotheses based on already developed theories. Strauss and Corbin’s (1990) focus on procedures and placing data into preconceived categories came under scrutiny from grounded theorists, including Charmaz (2006) and Glaser (1992). Charmaz argued that theorizing is a social action, and constructivist grounded theory requires researchers to reflect on the social production of the theory itself. In response to Charmaz and others, Corbin and Strauss’s (2008) most recent text sought to reflect constructivist writings on grounded theory. Corbin and Strauss acknowl-edged that researchers’ interactions with data are constructive because they seek to understand the lived experiences of individuals. Furthermore, according to Corbin and Strauss, consequences cannot exist within a vacuum because they are always connected to contextual conditions, actions, and interactions (Corbin & Strauss, 2008, p. 91).

In this study, I utilized Corbin and Strauss’s (2008) grounded theory as a series of tools in order to systematically interrogate data. The goal was to discover inductively the process of adolescent choral singers’ social identity development, including iden-tifying actions and interactions, intervening conditions, a central phenomenon, and consequences. Seeking to dimensionalize the categories with properties on a



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continuum helped to identify the variation and range of participant experiences. Finally, utilizing open and selective coding as well as building a processual model heightened theoretical sensitivity and provided rigorous data analysis.

Data Collection and Analysis

Three school sites were chosen using purposive maximum variation sampling (Patton, 2002). Diversity criteria included schools (a) enrolling three different-sized student bodies, (b) located in different geographical areas reflecting a diversity of population den-sity, (c) reflecting differences from one another in racial and ethnic diversity, (d) reg-istering choirs of various sizes, and (e) offering several different types of choirs. The data collection comprised three waves, including 49 total participant interviews (see the Online Appendix for school and participant information, available at http://jrme .sagepub.com/supplemental). Verification procedures were multiple data sources and types, member checking, memoing, and regular meetings with a peer debriefer to work through ethical and methodological issues (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

The initial wave of data collection included one 45-minute interview with 15 mixed choir participants, 5 from each of the three sites, chosen by heterogeneous sampling (Patton, 2002). Participants were interviewed individually within practice rooms down the hall from the choral room. Each interview was audiotaped, transcribed, and coded using MAXQDA software 2007. Pseudonyms were assigned for school names and participants during data transcription. The goal of the first wave was to use open cod-ing in order to identify initial categories. Categories are groupings of codes that share properties and/or characteristics (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Identifying categories leads to theoretical development in subsequent data collection.

The second wave, guided by theoretical sampling, consisted of 21 individual inter-views with different mixed choir participants. Throughout the data collection and analysis process, I defined and dimensionalized the categories (see Table 1). The resulting dimensions define the variation and range of participant experience on a continuum and help the researcher to draw conceptual relationships between catego-ries (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). During the second wave, I compared codes with codes as well as categories with categories, termed constant comparative data analysis (Creswell, 2008). I then analyzed the data using selective coding, which relates the central phenomenon to the other categories by analytically telling the data’s story (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).

The third wave of data collection involved member checking by 13 of the initial 36 students (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). I used intensity sampling to identify those who spoke strongly about their social identity development in mixed choir (Patton, 2002). Participants were asked to review and give feedback regarding the temporal matrix and propositional statements. Their feedback was incorporated into the results.

Secondary data sources included interviews with the three choir teachers as well as a total of 16 observations with the mixed choirs. The purpose of the interviews and observations was to triangulate the data and take note of student-to-student as well as teacher-to-student interactions. Field notes were transcribed and coded.


http://jrme.sagepub.com/supplemental



Table 1. Emergent Social Identity Categories, Properties, and Dimensionalized Examples.

Category Properties Dimensionalized examples

Overall contextual conditions

Time Less than an hour a day

Several hours a day

Participate for a few months

Participate for 4 years

Size of group 15 90Intensity Sharing donuts

and a moviePerformance for convention

Choosing to audition and remain involved

Past music experiences

Unmotivating Pushing me forward

Family Uninvolved Parents as career musiciansFriends They don’t

know I’m here

I’m here because of my peers

Singing It would be fun I need to sing for meDesire to join

somethingA break in the

school dayDesire to contribute

Being chosen

In-group and out-group

Cliques in choir Everyone is open

Privilege of membership

It is a class It is an honor

Reputation No one knows about choir

Choir singers are achievers

Singing with others

Teacher role Unrelenting ComplimentaryAccountability Become a good

singerBecome a better singer to support

othersRisk taking Put yourself

out thereHonesty in front of others

Leadership Informal mentorship

Intentional leadership development

Common experience

Sing in harmony together

Communicate through the repertoire

Giving oneself Give to one another

Give to community audience

Team

Music family Extended family Brothers, sisters, teacher as parent

Everyone is there for one reason

Love of music Shared action and musical understanding

We will all be together

You can’t have choir without people

Having your back

(continued)



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Findings

The grounded theory of social identity development revealed an eight-stage process (see Figure 1). Contextual conditions, including time, intensity, and size of group, substantively influenced participants’ experiences. Participants’ identity development process began with the initial decision to audition and remain involved in choir; pro-gressed through the central phenomenon, team; and ended with the last category, the desire to give back to the community.

Category Properties Dimensionalized examples

Acknowledged and accomplished

Friends and the larger school community

Don’t show up Attend and acknowledge

Family Don’t get it Videotape every performanceMixed choir

communityGood job Supportive of one another

Pride Earned it myself

Hard work I am proud of myself

Choral group External awards and honors

Proud to be part of a team

School Representing your school

Adding to school reputation

Who I am Career goals Future audience member

Musician or music teacher

More at peace Staying out of trouble

Overall self-acceptance

Singing goals Better singer Increased involvement Learn more

about musicBetter music

readerBetter thinker/creator

Social person More outgoing More friendshipsDesire to give back Feelings of

responsibilityTo the choir To the larger community

Performance Give to selected individuals

Give to humanity

Leadership roles

Leading by example

Formal leadership roles

I can say I was part of that

Looking back on involvement

Interaction with program beyond high school

Table 1. (continued)




Figure 1. Temporal matrix of adolescent social identity development.

Actions and Interactions

Within Corbin and Strauss’s (2008) grounded theory approach, actions or interactions act as factors of the central phenomenon. Actions and interactions in this study, depicted on the left side of Figure 1, included the following categories: (a) choosing to audition and remain involved in choir, (b) being chosen, and (c) singing with others. The intervening conditions that impeded team included cliques and egos. Categories and their properties are presented in Table 1 with dimensionalized examples (exam-ples that demonstrate the continuum of responses). Dimensionalized examples emerged from interview data and help to explain participants’ range of experience.

Participants chose to audition for different reasons and received varied levels of support for their decision to do so. Influential others, including teachers, family mem-bers, and friends, were instrumental in their decision to join, supported the audition process, and helped participants continue choral participation. Previous music teach-ers appear to have been influential, although participant experiences were varied, including unmotivating and highly motivating previous school music experiences.

Several participants discussed difficulty finding the choral program. Nicole said, “I wasn’t in women’s choir in ninth grade because I didn’t know how to apply for it. They don’t say, ‘Hey go out for choir.’ It’s just there . . . an exclusive kind of thing,



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you have to go hunting for it.” Choral programs often were physically isolated, in separate wings, from other areas in the school.

A pivotal moment was revealed when students were asked about what it was like to gain entry into the ensemble. Being chosen into mixed choir inducted participants into the choral in-group at school. Becoming a member of the in-group included participat-ing in the rituals of rehearsal, including warm-ups, as well as a formal and informal learning of the music reading and rehearsal process. Amanda discussed the tacit knowledge of members who were already in choir: “I was new, so I had to keep listen-ing to the warm-ups and everything.” Participants also discussed relating to one another on a musical level. Elizabeth said, “They understand how hard it might be for you to hit that note and everything. Your other friends aren’t in music and they are not going to get it.” Finally, the physical badges of membership, such as choir robes, fur-ther supported the in-group experience of choir.

Participants’ responses indicated that they were expected to be accountable, take risks to support the group, maintain honesty with each other, and remain open to learn-ing in unconventional ways. They described a responsibility to be present and to know their music to sustain the overall work of the group. The group goal of excellence forti-fied the individuals’ willingness to accept constructive criticism. Hannah articulated that it was sometimes difficult to remain open because accepting criticism required her to take a hard look at herself: “Just remove yourself and take a step back. Take what the person says. It’s important to be mature about it. Is there something I can improve on to be better, to learn from?” Choir teachers also reportedly exemplified high expec-tations, were honest and unrelenting, and complimented work well done. Alison said of her choir teacher, “He’s just straight up. He said, ‘If you guys want to be good, then we have to do this.’”

For all three choirs, findings revealed that leaders created a unified team and helped keep the group together. Accountability, risk taking, and leadership were evolutionary processes taught by veteran members to newer members. Emily said, “You mirror what your role models are. I find myself acting more like the seniors that have passed more than I thought I would have. You look up to them, then you become them, and others look up to you.” Leaders helped to create continuity even as veteran members graduated and new members began within the ensemble.

Intervening Conditions

The intervening conditions found, identified as cliques and egos, are depicted in Figure 1 with dotted lines. Many participants described having friends in the group, yet a few articulated the presence of social cliques and egos as a point of personal struggle in the choral experience. Even though participants described mixed choir as a place where membership was deserved because of the audition process, they also indi-cated the presence of smaller groups. This is one area where the diversity of sites became apparent. Rebecca, from Downtown High School, stated, “When you get together in a group, you always see that odd person out.” Stefania, from City High, also discussed her own personal struggle with cliques: “I just want to fit in so I’m not




an outcast or standing off to the side while everyone is having fun.” At Baldwin High School, however, participants viewed everyone as integral to the choral experience. Warren said, “You all basically love each other like a family . . . it’s like a love rela-tionship between everyone in there.” As strategies to overcome these challenges, par-ticipants discussed confronting students when it was necessary, talking openly with them, and working through issues together.

Central Phenomenon

In every interview, participants articulated the central phenomenon, team, many using that exact term. Team unity in choir was similar to a music family because of the shared experience of singing together. Several participants remarked that the choir team fostered feelings of belonging. Ruthie said, “Choir is a place to belong,” and Ben stated, “I feel like I have found my place.” A few likened choir to a large machine where each part was required for the entire machine to function. The voice sections acted as a team within the team, and choir teachers fortified each smaller team through their intentional and individualized work with sopranos, altos, tenors or basses.

Proximity aided the sectional team. Participants discussed becoming friendly with their folder partners or with others within their row. Although participants often referred to having “choir friends,” they also stated that folder-partner friendships did not continue outside of the classroom. Emily said,

There was a girl I sat by last year who told me all of this stuff about her home life. Then we would go in the hallway and wouldn’t say a word to each other. But in here, you might be friends.

Participants also expressed a shared action in their pursuit of singing together as well as a common love of music. The unified purpose of excellent group singing guided them toward strong teamwork and required them to rely on one another. To that end, many participants spent time differentiating the choir team from other team contexts. For example, Alison indicated that a choir’s success should be owned by the full group rather than by individual players, explaining,

In choir, it’s you, but it’s not you at all. You can’t really say I hit that note and that’s why we got that chord. So it’s the fact that it is individual, but it is also everyone at the same time.

Participants articulated that the delicate balance of individual and collective responsi-bility helped to develop as well as sustain the choral team.

Contextual conditions, such as time spent together, the size of the group, and the intensity of rehearsal, also appeared to play a role in the strength of the team. The more time choir participants spent with one another, the smaller the size of the group, and the greater intensity of rehearsals and performances helped to create a stronger team. The intensity of the three contextual conditions helped to create an environment for participants’ social identity development.



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Consequences

In this study, consequences of the central phenomenon acted as benefits to partici-pants’ social identity development. Consequences, depicted on the right side of Figure 1, included (a) acknowledged and accomplished, (b) pride, (c) who I am, and (d) the desire to give back. Every participant discussed feelings of accomplishment related to the team created in mixed choir. Parents, friends, and the entire choir com-munity were described as pivotal to students’ feelings of success. The levels of support varied greatly between participants, from one stating her stepdad “doesn’t really get choir” to another whose mother attended and videotaped every performance. In my field notes, I also discussed the choir families’ sense of community after a concert, congratulating not only their own children but also other children, as well.

Participants articulated four reasons for the consequence labeled pride, including (a) the daily individual work they infused into the ensemble, (b) their successful per-formances, (c) representing their school to the best of their ability, and (d) high praise from important others. They often discussed tangible successes when talking about the pride they had felt, such as winning competitions and achieving superior ratings. Examples included receiving recognition from administrators and choral teachers from other schools and hearing from outside individuals about the positive reputation of the participant’s school.

With respect to the consequence who I am, participants indicated that the choral experience had helped them become more outgoing, be more at peace with who they are, and develop their singing ability. For some, choral participation had influenced their future career aspiration to become a performer or educator. Others articulated that participating in choir had opened them up to new experiences, such as going to hear an opera, join the music honor society, or attend a National Association for Music Education convention. Participants described choir singers as achievers who are going to be successful in their lives. Kelly said, “When you see someone sing, you say, ‘Oh you sing, you have passions, you have ambitions, you want to do stuff with your life.’” Participants also indicated that they were more likely to stay out of trouble and become more self-accepting because of their singing in choir.

At the end of the process, participants indicated a desire to give back to the choir community. They embraced mentor positions within the ensemble and viewed them-selves as a part of the choral legacy within their high school. Participants discussed the importance of performance for friends, family, and community members because it acted not only as a vehicle of communication but also as a way to give back to the community. Micha said, “It is important for us to do this because someone really wants us to sing for them.” Their responses indicated that they wanted to look back on their high school years and say, “I was a part of that,” whether it was returning as an alumnus to sing with the choir or staying connected with other singers after high school had ended. Some participants, such as Ally, had difficulty describing what their choral participation would mean in the future, saying, “It is one of those things that you won’t realize until later on in life. You’ll see it later from the outside look-ing in.”




Propositional Statements

Propositional statements made by the researcher unify the grounded theory process and act as a theoretical explanation of the data (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). They allow relationships to be proposed that have been developed from rigorous data analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Based on my analysis of the data (for additional details regarding data analysis and findings, please see Parker, 2009), the following six prop-ositions are offered regarding the social identity process of adolescent high school choral singers: (a) Adolescent choral singers who are acknowledged for their singing by important others are more likely to continue and increase their school choral par-ticipation over time and potentially hold leadership roles. (b) Adolescent choral sing-ers’ social identity development is strengthened by a variety of contextual conditions, including short- and long-term time commitment, the size of the singing group, and rehearsal and performance intensity. (c) The act of singing with another person serves as a form of interpersonal communication and helps to break down barriers to friend-ship. (d) While many experience friendships within the mixed choir classroom, these friendships normally do not extend to the outside school environment unless the stu-dent is a part of an additional smaller ensemble, such as chamber singers or show choir. (e) Pride in their accomplishments helps participants make better choices and breeds competency into other areas of their lives. (f) A main consequence of mixed choir participation is greater self-acceptance and self-understanding.

Discussion

The process of singing with others consistently over time, with varying intensity of rehearsals and performances, contributes to participants’ experiences of mixed choir as an in-group, reflecting Tajfel’s (1978, 1981) social identity theory. Through the act of singing with others, involvement in choir reaches beyond membership into belong-ing and peak experiences. This reflects the findings of Newman et al. (2007), who reported that membership was not enough within a group because participants must experience belonging to gain attending benefits, such as a stronger self-concept.

Participants whose identities are strongly attached to mixed choir also may con-sider choir their primary place of social categorization (Tajfel, 1978, 1981) and work to “secure a positive evaluation of the in-group” (Tarrant et al., 2006, p. 137) through comparing themselves with other groups in the school. Furthermore, participants’ uses of music as a “badge of identity” is congruent with findings by North and Hargreaves (1999) and Tarrant et al. (2000), who discovered that adolescents used music to exer-cise their individuality.

The identification of team as a category in this study resonates with the description of choir as a place of affiliation and social integration (Adderley et al., 2003; Bailey & Davidson, 2005; Hylton, 1981; Parker, 2010). Participants’ increased amounts of rehearsal time, out-of-school performances, and small group size reportedly height-ened their social interactions. They engaged future aspirations for music involvement as well as a wide range of social expectations because of their choral participation.



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Themes of self-growth and healing through singing as well as music as a form of com-munication also are reflected in research by Bailey and Davidson (2002, 2005) and Hylton (1981). Although a range of dimensionality existed within each participant’s experience and for the three choirs studied, each participant indicated that when indi-viduals sing together, at some level, they know each other better.

Participants in this study as well as in the studies by Hylton (1981) and Adderley et al. (2003) perceived mixed choir members as high-achieving individuals. Students considered music, achievement, and intelligence as interrelated. This led the mixed choir members to view achievement more broadly than artistic aspects alone. Participants reported that they were inspired by others in choir who modeled the drive to act purposively in their lives.

My analysis indicated that important others, such as parents, teachers, and friends, played a considerable role in the participant’s identity development. Choir teachers were highly influential because their marriage of high expectations and compliments encouraged adolescents to mirror their behavior. The choral classroom being one of shared experience, student voice, and leadership confirms the finding that pupils enjoy music when it allows them to “do it for themselves” (Hargreaves & Marshall, 2003, p. 7). The democratic process of music making at one particular site, City High School, also helped students find their identity in music, reflecting findings of Miell and Littleton’s (2008) study of one adolescent garage band. The results of the current study challenge those of North et al. (2000), who found that identities in music developed largely outside of the classroom. Several participants confidently stated that their iden-tities as musicians developed within their school music participation, aligning with conclusions presented by Lamont, Hargreaves, Marshall, and Tarrant (2003).

Similar to previous studies on music ensemble interpersonal dynamics (Miell & Littleton, 2008; Murningham & Conlon, 1991), issues of power, such as cliques and egos, were present in the findings of this study. Participants reportedly gained their positions through social interaction, and individual actors depended on perpetuated actions to serve their own goals. As a result, it is possible the adolescents in this study were both social producers and social products in the world as they had constructed it (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 2001, p. 42). Through the process of audition-ing and being chosen into mixed choir (see Figure 1), participants entered a protected space where they embraced the specific norms of their choral context. Through con-sistently singing with others, they became a team and then developed into leaders of the choral program. As leaders, they acted as social producers for others who were at the beginning their social identity process. At the end, participants became social products of mixed choir and, in return, articulated their desire to “give back” to their schools as alumni.

One implication of this research is that the choral classroom is identity defining and assists adolescent social development through the music-making experience. Adolescents are building considerable peer groups and expanding their ideas of who they are as social people within the school environment. The identity-defining process of choral participation may act protectively to aid adolescents as they enter new and more challenging stages of development. Choir teachers can build upon these findings




by creating smaller singing groups that heighten participant belonging, developing retreats to fortify the choir team, and acknowledge that intense rehearsal periods may have a positive social impact. Healthy adolescent development is crucial to lifelong identity (Erikson, 1968) and may help to reduce alienation, which can lead to negative consequences for adolescents (Rutter & Berendt, 2004). Music education policy mak-ers and practitioners should consider the importance of social development in their advocacy plans at local, regional, and national levels.

Author’s Note

This article is based on the dissertation “Understanding the Process of Social Identity Development in Adolescent High School Choral Singers: A Grounded Theory,” completed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2009.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Author Biography

Elizabeth Cassidy Parker is assistant professor of music education at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University. Her research interests include the social and philosophical development of adolescent choral singers as well as the emerging identities of preservice music educators.

Submitted October 3, 2012; accepted February 7, 2013.



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The Process of Social Identity - Pennsylvania State University