Definition of "identity crisis" []

• A psychosocial state or condition of disorientation and role confusion occurring especially in adolescents as a result of conflicting internal and external experiences, pressures, and expectations and often producing acute anxiety. (noun)
• An analogous state of confusion occurring in a social structure, such as an institution or a corporation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "You don’t change careers, you don’t even go off and have an identity crisis when you’re a second-generation Portuguese-American fisherman."
• "In her analysis, Silverman argued that widowhood was so difficult because the death of a husband presented a massive identity crisis for women."