Document Type : Original Article
Researcher
Allameh Tabataba'i University
Ministerial Ethics Committee
Considering the importance of forming a coherent identity during adolescence as a foundation for future mental health (Matias Garcia et al., 2024) and the consequences of disruption in this vital process (Bell, 2022), it should be noted that contemporary adolescents are searching for identity in a different context than in the past. This space is shaped, on the one hand, by unprecedented access to diverse and sometimes conflicting sources of identity in the digital world, and, on the other hand, by rapid changes in family and educational structures. In such circumstances, a precise understanding of how institutions that influence identity formation interact has become an unavoidable necessity.Although numerous studies have examined the role of family and school in identity formation, the depth and complexity of adolescents' experiences in dealing with the interaction of these two institutions have not yet been fully explored. What requires special attention is a comprehensive understanding of how adolescents themselves perceive and interpret this process. Adolescents have unique narratives of this lived experience, not as passive recipients, but as active actors in their interactions with family and school. Field observations in educational environments show that today's adolescents, amidst sometimes aligned and sometimes conflicting expectations from family and school, create creative strategies to manage these spaces.These strategies, which sometimes manifest in the form of coordination and sometimes in the form of resistance, indicate the need to redefine the relationship between these two institutions in the new circumstances.