Identity is an important aspect in adolescent development. It is shaped by the environment in which the adolescents grow up and shapes how they see and will see the world. The purpose of my research is to explore the features of adolescents’ identity formation in high and low socio-economic status in Mongolian rural area. Because this is a new emerging topic in Mongolian research, I hope this research will provide some basic understanding for further research in the future.
In this research I focused on high and low SES adolescents’ occupational decision making, self-descriptions about one’s self that included self-esteem and self-confidence, then behavioral differences in order to represent different identity formation of high and low SES adolescents in Mongolian rural area.
Data were collected by interviews with 10 adolescents in Khovd province. The research employed qualitative and face-to-face interviews using convenient sampling method. The result shows that high SES adolescents tend to already make an occupational decision in comparison with the low SES counterparts. Also low SES adolescents’ self-description about oneself is usually doubtful and they are hesitant about their own abilities than the high SES adolescents. The self-confidence in high and low SES adolescents is different. Finally, in terms of behavioral differences, high SES adolescents are more autonomous while low SES adolescents are obedient and considerate.

Chapter One: Introduction 1
1.1. Research Background 1
1.2. Research Purpose and Questions 2
Chapter Two: Literature Review 4
2.1. Adolescents Identity Development 4
2.2. Theories of Human Development 4
2.3. Importance of the Socio-Emotional Development on Identity Formation 6
2.4. Adolescent Social Development 7
2.5. Adolescent Emotional Development 10
2.6. The Relationships Between Socio-Economic Status and Identity Development 15
Chapter Three: Methodology 18
3.1. Research Method 18
3.2. Research Field 19
3.3. Participants 21
3.4. Data Collection 23
3.5. Ethical Consideration 27
3.6. Limitation of Study 28
Chapter Four: Findings & Discussion 30
4.1. Findings 30
4.2. Discussion 50
Chapter Five: Conclusion and Suggestion 59
5.1. Conclusion 59
5.2. Suggestion 62
References 64
Appendix 1. Ger District in Khovd 70
Appendix 2. Apartment District in Khovd 71

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