The 5th Stage: Identity V. Role Confusion

There are a total of 8 Psychosocial Developments that Erickson theorized about. Ranging from different age groups starting from 1 yr. until 65 yrs. and higher. Each of these stages have a goal that should be met. Failure to complete these goals result in a negative impact throughout the person’s life. However, there is a stage that I can relate to better than the others, a majority of the reason being that I personally have just “completed” this stage. The 5th stage, “Identity V. Role Confusion”, is one that I can directly relate to.

Identity V. Role Confusion takes place between the ages of 12-18 which lies in between the age group where children learn to mature and enter adulthood. The idea is that a child is beginning to want to become

Starting at 12 years old I was begging to become more independent and desired to hang out with my own group and find my place in society. I can remember thinking about what my values were and questioning what I wanted to be when I grew up. The textbook, Exploring Lifespan Development, by Laura Berk defines this as an “Identity Crisis” which for many teenagers such as myself go through a time of distress and experimentation with alternatives before choosing values and goals (Berk, Pg. 318). I vouch for Erickson’s theory; I do remember feeling that this was a big crisis in my

She really introduced me into the medical side of life and I felt very inspired to pursue a career in medicine. In between I remember trying to involve myself in my community, I tried to think of ways to belong into my community and as a Junior High student I choose to become part of the Yearbook community and I felt accepted for a while until I decided that photography wasn’t my thing. Later along the years I felt like hanging out with more people who had the same goal as me (career wise) and I felt even more comfortable. However, my love-life still felt a little dry, so I decided to figure out what kind of person would make a perfect fit for me. So, I talked to different people until I found a girl that I thought I liked, during this time I did find my sexual orientation. However, I did struggle finding my ethnic group membership my parents were always more cultural and had roots to their Mexican culture. I suppose I was more “Americanized” according to them and because of this I never really associated myself with those of my ethnic background. Up until I was 18 I was unsure about my morals but, through role-models, teachers, and associates I was able to create the concoction that