Erikson's Psychosocial Theory of Development: Young Adults Essay

Erik Erikson’s sixth stage of psychosocial development is intimacy versus isolation. Erikson argued that young adults would be afraid of committing to a long-term relationship with another person. Young adults may also become overly dependent on the partner for their identity. To conclude a person may need a sense of who they are before they can get close to someone else. Erikson believed that a strong sense of personal identity was important for developing intimate relationships.

The middle adulthood stage of development is from about forty years of age until about sixty five years of age. At this stage, the typical person has found their desired career path, a relationship worth settling down with, and their piece of the bigger picture. Being successful and giving back to the community is important during this time frame. According to Erikson’s psychosocial stages of human development, this is the point in life where the question is generativity or stagnation. Generativity is reached if a person feels that they are successful and doing a good service for the rest of the world, but if the feeling of failure in these areas arises stagnation, inactivity, is reached. Both generativity and stagnation are developed mainly

While I chose to test my significant other, Michael, who is eighteen years old, I contemplated the stage of life he may be in. Which I had also done with myself. Initially, I thought I was definitely in the early adulthood stages, however, after discussing the changes in life in both of those stages I would say that Michael and I are both going through the final stages of adolescence. I decided to test the social effects on an late adolescent or early adulthood teen. I am testing Erikson’s Theory of Intimacy vs Isolation to test whether there is major conflict forming intimate, loving relationships with other people. As I mentioned previously, development should continue throughout the lifespan, however, in this stage of life, we enter the final stages of adolescent’s and begin to enter young adulthood. This is also the time when we begin to enter Erikson's sixth stage. This is the stage where we may question, “will I be loved or will I be alone?” During this stage, people face the challenge of forming close relationships with others. They either develop intimate friendships and partnerships, or possibly fall into a state of isolation.

Another theory of Erikson’s’ is that the successful completion of exploring relationships and developing one that is long term can lead to “happy relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. If, not accomplished, one can experience feelings of isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression. (McLeod, S. 1970) Daniel Levinson contributes that a mid-life transition (occurring from 40-45) one’s life and its structure will be questioned.

Society plays an important role in the development and formation of individual’s identity, the social idea of the perfect man or woman tends to create different traumas in people who are trying to be accepted or recognized in their environment. Seeking perfection or social acceptance often tend people fall into depression, loneliness, low self-esteem, insecurity, frustration, isolation, and many other problems that will not allow individuals to express themselves freely and create their true identity. When we think about identity we referred to the individual unique characteristic that a person have in order to be recognized as human being. Identity is also the awareness that a person has with respect to itself and makes one different from

According to Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, Neveah is in middle adolescence, which is focused on the conflict of identity verses role confusion (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). The developmental characteristics of middle adolescents include sexual identity, role experimentation, moral development, and self-discovery (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). Adolescents are evaluating how they fit into society and more specifically their social sphere. During this time, friends, social groups, and cultural trends greatly impact the adolescent. According to Gibbs (2015), at this stage in development it is critical to be valued and accepted by a peer group. To evaluate Neveah’s stage of development, her ethnicity, immigration, and history of childhood abuse must be taken into consideration. According to Ashford and LeCroy (2010), adolescent immigrants face the unique challenge of fulfilling their sense of belonging, while facing issues of acculturation and minority status. As they seek to develop their own identity, they must combine the norms, values, and culture of their minority status and the dominant Caucasian culture (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). Adolescent immigrants face more discrimination as well as are hyper-cognizant of their differences in appearance and language (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). According to Chicchetti and Toth (1995), child maltreatment effects the development of attachment and affect regulation. They further state that studies

Erik Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg are famous theorist who have contributed a lot to the nursing profession. Erikson’s theory is about psychosocial development whereas Kohlberg’s theory is about moral development. Erikson has eight stages, that he believed were accomplished at different periods of life, in his theory of psychosocial development starting with; trust versus mistrust during infancy; autonomy versus shame or doubt experienced at a toddler age; initiative versus inferiority during preschool and school-aged period; identity versus identity confusion during adolescence; intimacy versus isolation experienced as a young adult; generativity versus stagnation experienced as a middle-aged adult; and lastly integrity versus despair

Erik Erikson’s identification of the several stages of psychosocial development is a brilliant theory. He acknowledged the significance of the unconscious mind and early childhood, as well as, furthered his studies and developed his own ideas. It provides a good base of knowledge for understanding what conflicts individuals may be facing at their particular developmental levels. This involves developing a sense of trust in others, a sense of identity in society, and assisting the next generation for the future. The Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial stages of development accuracy can perhaps be demonstrated when reflected to one’s life’s span. I was surprised by the accuracy of the stages when reflected to my own, especially my current stage which is Erikson’s sixth stage (young adulthood, 20 to 39 years old) Intimacy vs Isolation. In this stage, the most important factor is intimate relationships. I can strongly relate to Erikson’s theory of this stage where he asserts, it is not the quantity, but the quality of the relationships that

As life goes on, people restructure their lives based on gains and losses in what they are capable of doing and capabilities, also by changing values and goals. Erikson’s stages of development, is an eight-stage theory of identity and psychosocial. According to Erikson’s theory, every one must pass through the stages over a lifetime (Erikson, 1998). Young adulthood ranges between the ages of 19 to 40, it is usually the age when the individual is at the peak in life. Young adulthood is the age where the adult has found their identity. Now they have moved into the adult world, they are seeking a partner to share, friendship, sex, and intimate feelings with (if they are not in an intimate relationship already) failing this, the young adult feels a sense of isolation, exclusivity or

Identity crisis was a temporary period of distress as they (teenagers) experiment with alternatives before settling on values and goals. (Berk,2013, p. 469). Based on Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory, individuals are faced with various challenges throughout their lives. Some examples of these challenges are, the ability to trust others in infancy, establishing a clear sense of identity in adolescence and through the transition to adulthood, and establishing an intimate relationship with a life partner in early adulthood. (Sneed, Whitbourne, Schwartz, Huang, Duberstein 2012)

The first task of exploring intimate relationships is the time where both men and women combine emotional closeness, shared interests, shared vison of the future and sexual intimacy. Of course these relationships differs for various couples. Some have no commitment to marriage, others find a same-sex partner and there are those who believe in the monogamy marriage relationships. Cohabitation is the second developmental task that is broken down into six categories of marginal, prelude to marriage, stage in the marriage process, alternative to being single, alternative to marriage and indistinguishable from marriage. Cohabitation is the stage that allows young adults twenty four to thirty four find themselves. While exploring relationships they are acknowledging if it is possible for them to live with someone else leading to marriage or the choice of remaining single. Knowing if you can live with someone brings the thought of starting a family. Starting a family includes compromising both religious beliefs, career aspirations, ideals about family life, social expectations and culture.

In the changing eyes of society, little has changed in the characteristics of what defines marriage. Marriage is compromise. Marriage requires trust. Marriage succeeds with communication. Marriage thrives on passion. No matter the type of union, or the sex of the couple, or their ages, location- a successful marriage requires these few- but somewhat difficult to achieve attributes. It is no secret that these qualities take work, and commitment. But with them, long lasting and meaningful marriage is achievable.

This week’s project focused on marriage and the outlook individuals have towards it. My project centers around my two friends, Nathan and Natalie, both 19-year-old undergraduate students at Duke. Both individuals were asked the same set of questions: “What are the necessary conditions for marriage to happen? What does marriage mean to you? How did you grow up viewing marriage and what was your family like? Would divorce ever be an option?”. In this short essay, I will reflect on our separate interviews, classify them within the framework of Cherlin, and compare their answers against each other.

All of us have a natural biological urge to pair bond and this tendency motivates us to seek out intimate relationships with others who could potentially become our significant partner in life. Usually, but not always, this urge is expressed for relationships with someone of the opposite gender. Love relationships and marriage fulfill this need and also the need that many people have to procreate. There are also strong societal norms and expectations that adults will form permanent or at least long-term relationships and there are various social stigmas associated with adults who remain single all of their lives. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly difficult to support a household on a single income while still having time left over for recreational interests. Marriage allows couples to combine their financial resources and consolidate various practical responsibilities to contribute to a joint home.

Moreover, in the psychological development in the young adult stage Erickson 's physiological theory involves intimacy