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Hypothesizing a series of developmental stages that begin in the individual's infancy and end in his old age, Erikson has indicated that the adolescent is faced with a series of identity crises.

The successful and positive resolution of these crises during adolescence involves an epigenetic principle -- during adolescence, the individual's positive resolutions in each area of identity crisis depend, to a considerable degree, on his already having resolved preliminary and preparatory identity crises during his infancy, childhood, and early adolescence.

Within Erikson's schema, the adolescent's delinquent behavior -- in this case, her unwed motherhood -- reflects her `` identity diffusion '', or her inability to resolve these various identity crises positively.