role exit

Meaning: Role exit is the process of leaving a role that was central to a person's self-identity and establishing a new identity that takes the former role into account. The person becomes an "ex," such as an ex-nurse, ex-spouse, or ex-athlete. Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh described four stages:

1. First doubts about the role. 2. Seeking and weighing alternatives. 3. A turning point, when the person decides to leave. 4. Creating the ex-role, in which the person builds a new identity while still carrying habits, expectations, and social ties from the old one.

On the MCAT: A passage describes someone leaving a job, marriage, religion, team, or the military, or retiring, and asks which stage the person is in. It may also ask what challenge the person faces afterward, such as rebuilding a self-concept or dealing with how others still see them in the old role. Expect to separate it from nearby role terms.

Common confusion: Students mix role exit up with role conflict and role strain. Role conflict is a clash between the demands of two different roles. Role strain is a clash within the demands of one role. Role exit is about leaving a role and the identity change that follows. The four-stage model was built from studies of people who left roles by choice, so do not assume every exit follows these stages in order.