Erikson's Identity Versus Identity Confusion

Another stage of Erikson's identity versus identity confusion. This is Erikson’s fifth lifespan stage. The developmental period for this stage is adolescence and that would be from 10 years to 20 years of age. This stage is usually after puberty because Erikson’s fourth stage is till puberty and after that stage is identity versus identity confusion. First, the adolescence has just gone or is going through puberty at this time, so their bodies go through many changes (for females they breast develop and they start their periods, and for male they have an increase in height and they have pubic hair growing and many other changes), but at this time their mind is going through a lot of changes as well. Since, this is the stage were most adolescents

question themselves They want to know about themselves. They want to know, who they are or what they want to do in life, they have many changes occur during this period. During their teenage years, teens want to know their identity. According to the book, identity has many parts coming together to make a perfect “self-portrait” (Santrock 2011). Identity cannot be classified as one thing. Around the adolescence years, students are usually in middle school or high school. The years spent in these two schools brings up the identity question and especially when students go on to high school. They search for the college they want to attend, the major they want to pursue and know what interests them. Many questions come to mind during these years. When teens are older they are given more freedom. Erikson called this freedom, “psychosocial moratorium” it’s “the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy” (Santrock 2011). During this time, adolescents aren’t bounded with so many rules, they are given more freedom. They have new opportunities open to them, that weren’t available before. For example, in Washington most teens can work at the age of 14 ("Teen Workers," 2014). This gives them a chance to explore and the have more freedom. Another example is when teens get their driver’s licenses.

All these little thing helps the adolescents search for their identity and develop as a person. Searing for their identity can lead them two ways: one way is they will find their identity through the activities they do during their teen years or this can lead to an identity confusion. An adolescent that has encouragement and is given support we'll have a positive overcome to the crisis of identity vs identity confusion. They well, “emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control” (Cherry, 2014). Once they have passed this conflict, they have a sense of self, where they feel accepted and refreshed. There are people that aren’t able to overcome the identity crisis, so they face identity confusion. Erikson saw this identity confusion in two ways: the person tries to stay away from the world, meaning from family, friends, and peers, or they engage themselves into the world and lose their own identity in the “crowd” (Santrock 2011). This stage is important at later aspects of life such as the middle adulthood, so having a strong and positive identity helped with generativity in the 40s and 50s (during parenting) (Santrock, 2011, p. 504) Passing this stage as adolescence is really important for the next

stage.

Since, this is the stage that sets the ground for them to explore, learn and have a stable future. After this stage, it is Erikson’s stage initiative versus guilt. This stage is the third stage and it’s from early childhood (preschool years), from the ages of three to five years. In this stage the child “is convinced that they are persons of their own” (Santrock 2011). For children in this stage want responsibility given to them, it can be very small

responsibility. If the child isn’t given a chance, then they may develop a sense of guilt because they think they aren’t capable (Cramer, Flynn, & LaFave, 1997). At this stage, children need to feel a part of the world. So, they should be given opportunities to help out. Then, the next stage is industry versus inferiority.