COMMUNITY-SERVICE AND POLITICAL-MORAL IDENTITY IN ADOLESCENTS

This article presents a theoretical framework for understanding how co mmunity service affords opportunities for stimulating identity develop ment in adolescents. Drawing on Erikson's (1968) writings, which stres sed the socio-historical component of identity, we used Luckmann's (19 91) scheme for parsing narratives into levels of transcendent identifi cation. The narratives came from reflective essays of 132 Black paroch ial high school juniors who worked at a soup kitchen for the homeless as part of a school-based community service program. The majority of e ssays written at Time 1 (57.8%) and Time 2 (62.5%) could be scored at levels designated from ''little'' to ''bigger'' levels, and students w ho made transcendent statements at Time 1 and Time 2 tended to make '' higher'' level statements at Time 2 (z = 2.07, p < .05), thus suggesti ng developmental change. The results support the view that service exp erience can stimulate reflection on society's political organization a nd moral order.