Before we begin any discussion of the developmental psychology regarding a 14-year-old male and a 65-year-old female, we must select a framework from which to build our analysis. Such a framework will provide an explanation the necessary developmental challenges that face an individual as they leave one stage of development behind and approach the issues and challenges of the next. Life Cycle theory is an adequate framework from which to analyze the psychological development of both a 14-year-old male and a 65-year-old female. Life Cycle theory is basically attributed to Erik Erikson who viewed psychological development as occurring in stages across the life-span from cradle to grave. At each stage or phase of development, the individual is faced with issues and challenges that must be resolved before he or she can move onto the next phase of development in a psychologically healthy manner, Erikson labeled these “psychosocial crises” (Weiten, 1989, 411).
In Erikson’s framework, the typical 14-year-old is categorized in Stage Five, where Identity versus Role Confusion are the main tasks with the following psychological issues:
The adolescent is newly concerned with how they appear to others.
Ego identity is the accrued confidence that the inner sameness and continuity prepared in the past are matched by the sameness and continuity of one’s meaning for others, as evidence in the promise of a career.
The inability to settle on a school or occupational identity is confusing.
For the 65-year-old, the following psychological issues are encompassed in Stage Eight of Erikson’s theory where the main issue is Ego Integrity versus despair with the following psychological challenges:
Ego integrity is the ego’s accumulated assurance of its capacity for order and meaning.
Despair is signified by a fear of one’s own death, as well as the loss of self-sufficiency, and of loved partners and friends.
Healthy c...