The movie Juno addresses the issue of an adolescent’s questioning of adult issues. Juno, a young girl of 16, becomes pregnant after a self-initiated one-night stand with her friend Paulie Bleeker.  Upon her discovery that she is pregnant, she moves through the various psychosocial phases that would lead her to make a mature decision regarding the welfare of her child. 
      Juno’s journey shows many of the theories of cognitive and psychosocial development. These theories chronicle her metamorphosis from an adolescent, with little knowledge of the nuances of adult life, to a young adult with a greater appreciation for her own youth.  Though there are other theories to explain Juno’s behavior, such as James Marcia’s identity achievement and Jean Piaget’s adaptation, she ultimately spends most of the film in Erikson’s identity versus role confusion phase.
     The film opens with Juno discovering that she is pregnant. She moves from disbelief, as evidenced in the numerous pregnancy tests she took, to nonchalance, to pragmatically deciding to, “procure a hasty abortion.” (Drake, et. al., 2007). At this point, Erikson’s epigenetic principle would place Juno in the identity versus role confusion stage. In this stage teenagers are thought to be in the process of establishing their identities.  This process usually takes the form of experimenting with different roles in the quest to find the answer to the age old question of “who am I?”  In Juno’s case, she tries on several different roles. 
     Juno, who by all accounts, both in personal dress and behavior, is a tom-boy, decided to have sex with her best friend, essentially trying on the role of seductress or at the very least confident “woman” of the world. She further carries on the role when she meets Mark (an older married man).  During her time alone with Mark, she tries on a more grown-up role, yet it is apparent she still has a lot of growing up to do. She criticizes Mark, uncaring or unknowing of the resulting effect. “She gave you... your own room in... in your whole house? For your... for your stuff? Wow, she's got you on a long leash, Mark.” (Drake, et. al., 2007). **See Video 3 on the "VIDEOS" page.**  This is also apparent when she does not understand why Mark has put his passion and dreams on the wayside for others. “You're quite the sellout, Mark. I mean... what would the Melvins say?” (Drake, et. al.,2007 ). Having these types of discussions with Mark makes Juno feel grown up (as evidenced when she later brags to Paulie about her visits to Mark and seems to reject Paulie because she feels she is more mature than he).  She later on rejects this role of her sojourn into adulthood when some of the effects or backlash of it become too much. She chooses instead the comfort of familiarity, of having others deal with the bigger issues in life when she tells her dad, “Oh, just out dealing with things way beyond my maturity level.” (Drake, et. al.,2007 ). 
     Throughout the film Juno moves jerkily between these two roles; from maturely deciding that she is not ready for a baby and should give it up for adoption, to her rather adolescent show of jealousy when she finds out Paulie would be taking another girl (Katrina) to the prom. She grapples with serious adult issues, such as whether she is ultimately pro-choice or pro-life, and yet is still naïve enough to ask Mark, “do me a solid and just stay with Vanessa”, thinking naively that choosing to stay and raise a family with a partner could be something one does as a favor to a stranger (Drake, et. al.,2007 ). 
     Yet, Juno does begin to grow and find herself as evidenced by her decision to give the baby to Vanessa despite the fact that Mark as decided to leave Vanessa.  Erikson’s theory states that if adolescents lack stability in various areas of their lives then they will experience role confusion, and up to this point there was a fair of amount of that instability in Juno’s life.  At this crossroad though, when faced with the impending demise of Vanessa and Mark’s marriage, it is a bit ironic that Juno’s growing up seems to leave her deciding to remain a child for a little longer. She commits to giving the baby to Vanessa, symbolically giving up her last hold on adult issues, then she goes home and asks her dad’s advice about romance much like any other teen might. It seems that at this point Juno is more grounded and more sure of who she is.
     Juno is entering James Marcia’s identity achievement status. Marcia’s identity achievement requires that an individual explore and consider alternative positions regarding roles or values. It also requires that the individual make a choice and commit to it. Individuals in this status think rationally and logically before making a decision, then ultimately work to improve interpersonal relationships. Juno does all of the above. She considers abortion and adoption, then rationally chooses adoption. She decides and commits to giving the baby to Vanessa even after her idealistic idea of the perfect family for the baby is smashed, then she goes back to working on the burgeoning relationship between Paulie and herself. She now not only knows who she is, but is more accepting of herself. She has adapted herself to her situation.
     Piaget defines adaptation as “the process of creating a good fit or match between one’s conception of reality and the real -life experiences one encounters.”  (Snowman McCown & Biehler 2012 p. 37) In essence, this means that adolescents often try to fit their version of reality into their current experiences. When Juno tells her parents of her pregnancy she quickly advises them that in a few weeks they would all be able to go on with their lives as if it had never happened, when in truth this could never be so. Her parents would always have the knowledge that Juno is more adult than child. Juno herself will be indelibly changed by the decisions she makes and the consequences of those decisions. Thus, while Juno tried to interpret her pregnancy as “no big deal,” (Drake, et. al 2007) it was because that is what she has done with other experiences in her life so far; brush off all bad experiences. She does this with her biological mother’s abandonment in an ironic fashion and has been able to sufficiently bury her feelings on that matter, so she believes she will be able to do the same with this situation. As her body and emotions change, she goes from wanting to “nip it in the bud before it gets worse,” to referring to herself as a “sacred vessel” (Drake, et. al., 2007). 
     Juno’s pregnancy is a new experience which does not fit easily into any scheme she has previously experienced, so she accommodates her scheme (Piaget’s adaption phase) to incorporate her new experiences.  At this stage Juno makes most decisions independently of her parents, and does not even solicit their opinion regarding the future of her pregnancy.  When she does decide to inform Mac and Bren, she has already decided against abortion, for adoption, chosen the prospective parents, and worked out who will pay for medical expenses.  
     In their article regarding adolescent independence, Van Petegem et.al note that, “autonomy refers to self-endorsed functioning, or the extent to which one [the adolescent] behaves upon personally valued interests, preferences, and needs.” (Van Petegem et.al. 2012). Juno behaves in a manner consistent with this definition.  This methodical, rational, independent thinking, in Piaget’s view, places Juno in the formal operational stage of her development. Juno also embodies other characteristics of this phase in that she is able to recognize, and liberally use, sarcasm and satire which Piaget believes is a necessity at this stage. In fact, most of Juno’s dialogue throughout the film is rather pithy, consisting of clever wit. She uses complex, if sometimes colloquial language, and is also able to think matters through, which is typical of this stage. This type of behavior also embodies egocentricism. 
      Egocentricism relies on the “assumption that others see things same way” (Snowman McCown & Biehler 2012 p. 40) To Juno it seems logical that Mark should want to be a dad, after all, he is married, successful and “old.” (Drake, et. al.2007).  She thinks purely in terms of her own logic, which determines that a successful married man would want to be a father. She prompts him to stay with his wife as a favor to her. This is clear evidence that she “does not yet differentiate between the logical world as she thinks it to be and the real world.”(Wadsworth 2004 p.124 qtd in Snowman, Cown & Biehler 2012 p.43).