Reflection Of Erikson's Stages Of Psychosocial Development

For this journal, I chose to reflect back on the early adolescence stage of my life. This part of my life was particularly hard for many reasons. Although it was not the best time of my life, the things that I experienced in the past have shaped me into the person that I am today and I view myself as a lot stronger than I would have been without these experiences. During this stage of development, there were many changes going on regarding my social life. Starting in 8th grade, a girl began to bully me. She was mad that I made the volleyball team and she did not, so she began to yell at me in the halls and push me around. I hoped that once we got to high school that it would stop; it did, but not for long. Before I knew it, tenth grade came

Because of these experiences that I had during this stage of my life, I feel that I was not successful in developing a healthy self-concept, self-esteem, and identity. With that said, I feel that the theory that most applies to these circumstances is Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. In this theory, the stage that I fell under when I was going through these difficulties would be the Identity vs. Role Confusion Stage (12-18). In this stage, Erikson suggests that achieving an identity means to gain an understanding of oneself and how they fit in with the rest of the world. On the other hand, role confusion means that an individual failed to understand his or her personal identity. In regards to my self-development, I believe that I did not achieve the identity part of this stage of Erikson’s theory and that instead, I experienced a lot of role confusion. I did not know how to act or who I was anymore, because no one in school acknowledged me; I never felt good enough to be anyone’s friend. Because of failing to achieve identity, I find myself having a hard time with the next stage that I am currently in, Intimacy vs. Isolation. Being that I am 23 now and this occurred when I was in high school, I never would have imagined that I would still be affected by what has happened so long ago, but according to Erikson’s