Psycho-historical Analysis of Bill Clinton's Adolescence

In considering a Psycho-historical approach to the

adolescence of President Bill Clinton three developmental

theories will be used as guides. The first is Erik Erikson's

(1968) psychosocial approach which while it is psychoanalytic in

its basic orientation, transcended Freud's approach by taking

into consideration the role of human interactions and social

setting in the development of personality. The second is James

Fowler's (1984) outline of the development of faith which draws

extensively on Erikson's concepts but concentrates on matters

related to various aspects of Spiritual individuation and growth. The third is that of Jean Piaget (11967; 1973) who developed a theory of cognitive development in childhood but also addressed cognitive changes that continued into adolescence and adulthood. These theoretical approaches are applied to three themes as well: peer relations, parent-child relations, and academics. Each of these themes is developed on the basis of early biographies of Clinton (Allen & Portis, 1992; Moore, 1992; Wills, 1992) compiled prior to his election as president. While the views of friends, relatives, teachers, and others in Such biographical works are, of course, informed by hindsight there is nonetheless a tendency,to be more open in their recollections than there may have been after Clinton's two terms as president. There is also less speculation about character and its flaws since very little of the scandalous element of Clinton's private lif

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on, 1968, pp. 148-129) .Since his father died before he was born and his mother worked irregular hours as a nurse, Clinton spent his early years in the care of relatives and looked to his Uncle Buddy Grisham and his grandfather as male role models. When his mother remarried she hoped that Bill would acquire such a model in his stepfather, but, "instead, he experienced his first disorientation in this restored life with two parents [as] Roger Clinton's anger was explosive when he drank" and the lurking potential for violence made the boy take on the burden of responsibility for his mother (Willis' 1992, p. 34). Clinton, therefore, spent much of his childhood and adolescence relating to various father substitutes. After Uncle Buddy and his grandfather Clinton looked on many school- and church-related figures in this way. Virgil Spurlin, the band director, for example, "acted as another surrogate father" while, on another scale, heroes such as Senator Fulbright of Arkansas and president Kennedy emerged in the political field as Clinton increasingly saw this as his future (Wills, 1992, p. 35). This turn to politics is, perhaps, explained in part by the fact that "it is the ideological potential of a society which speaks most clearly

Category: Psychology - P