Application of Erikson's Stages of Devlopment

Stephen, the child of an acquaintance, is contemplating whether to attend college and pursue a law degree or work as a mechanic after graduating from high school. At the age of 14, Stephen is in the midst of the adolescent stage. On the personal level, Stephen is torn between his twin interests of public speaking and his love of cars. An active participant in his school's debate team, Stephen has a strong interest in going to law school. However, he is deterred by the number of years that are required for him to complete the law degree. Furthermore, because of his passion for cars, Stephen feels that being a mechanic would enable him to work in an area of his interest as soon as he leaves school.

Based on Stephen's current thought processes about his future, it is evident that he has entered Erikson's (1950, 1968) fifth stage of "identity versus identity confusion" (cited in Berk, 2001, p. 390). In his process of considering his future options after graduating from high school, Stephen is attempting to define his identity by critically examining his values, goals and interests. The challenges of establishing an identity is one of the key psychosocial issues confronted by adolescents (Huebner, 2000; American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry [AACAP], 1997).

At this juncture, Stephen's identity status can be considered to be at a moratorium. As identified by Marcia (1980), there are four principal identity statuses: "identity achievement," "moratorium,"

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ions: "Why spend all that time in college?" In spite of Stephen's close connections with his peers in the neighborhood, he still values the perspectives of his parents who would like him to attend college and pursue a professional career. For the most part, Stephen's parents have exhibited authoritative parenting skills (Berk, 2001, pp. 379-80) that entail establishing high expectations of achievement for Stephen, while acknowledging his growing autonomy and desire to assert his preferences. Even though they impose certain limits on his behavior, Stephen's parents still ensure that Stephen have plenty of opportunities to grow and participate in new activities and make new friends in order to discover his own identity. At the same time, as with many parents of adolescents, Stephen's parents who both work full-time are concerned that they are not physically available to monitor Stephen's activities outside of school. While they want him to assert his autonomy another key aspect of adolescents' psychosocial development (Huebner, 2000; AACAP, 1997), they are also concerned that he will fall under the influences of unhealthy individuals in their neighborhood that is characterized by a high number of high school dropouts. Nonet

Category: Psychology - A