Page "lore" Paragraph 1036

The positive development, during adolescence, of this capacity to think and to feel strongly and with increasing independence, and to identify overtly either with or against given ideas, values, and practices, depends to a considerable degree on both previous and present opportunities for developing autonomy, initiative, and self-certainty.

Most adolescents have some ideological diffusion at various developmental stages, as they experience a proliferation of ideas and values.

The diffusion is most pronounced and most likely to become fixed, however, in those who have had no or very minimal opportunities to develop the autonomy and initiative that could have been directed into constructive expression and so served as sources of developing self-certainty.