“Erik Erikson proposed a psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages, from infancy to adulthood. During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis, which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development” (McLeod, 2013). Jason is six or seven years old still have two more stages to pass through; those stages are identity versus role confusion and intimacy versus isolation (McLeod, 2013). Looking ahead, I believe if Jason’s home environment, school environment and community supports stay the same, Jason may xperience psychosocial crises.
The next stage of development that Jason will enter into is the fifth stage of development, identity versus role confusion. This stage occurs between the ages 12-19 years old. A positive end result will have Jason develop a well rounded sense of roles/identities that will affect him as an adult as well he will have developed and explored personal values, beliefs and goals (McLeod, 2013). This is also a time where Jason will have developed a sense of belonging with friends and society.
I predict that Jason will struggle to move hrough this stage with a positive end result. Jason’s parents appear to lack the ability and knowledge to help him; they are currently not positive role models and are not stable individuals themselves, and appear unable to support all the emotional, physical and social changes Jason will be going through. Instead, I predict Jason will experience role confusion; he may end up being the caregiver to both parents because dad drinks to excess and mum is emotionally and physically unavailable due to her depression.
In addition, Jason lack of parenting might, Result in rebellion in the form of establishing a negative identity, and in addition to this feeling of unhappiness” (McLeod, 2013). Again, if Jason’s home environment, school environment and community supports stay the same, Jason may experience psychosocial crises as he moves into an adult and enters the sixth psychosocial crisis, intimacy versus isolation. This stage starts between the ages of eighteen to forty years old.
Successful completion of this stage can result in happy relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship” (McLeod, 2013). Since Jason has not seen these aspects in his home life, family or community I sense he will struggle to achieve these results and will be left, “Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression” (McLeod, 2013). Jason’s parents do not have positive or healthy intimacy (poor modeling) and from their own family history Rick and Kim did not grow up in a healthy family either.
As well, I believe that Jason has not always been cared for in a loving or safe environment; his father drinking to excess and his mother being motional detached from him. As well, Jason has moved schools three times, which can impact his feelings or security. Since Jason’s father drinks to excess, Jason may be a child of an alcoholic and grow into an adult child of an alcoholic, which can lead to more serious problems (Wormer and Davis, 2008).
When children experience unpredictability and chaos the consequences can be isolation, conflict and poor communication with family members, as well, lack of self esteem, confidence and security and other emotional problems, such as depression (Wormer and Davis, 2008). If we turn our attention to Jason’s current and past stages, I believe that he may have struggled to achieve these developmental stages successfully, the three developmental stages are; trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt and initiative versus guilt.
In Jason’s first year of life (newborn to about eighteen months) Jason would be looking to develop a sense of trust and to learn to feel secure even when threatened (McLeod, 2013). “By developing a sense of trust, the infant can have hope that as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other people will e there as a source of support. Failing to acquire the virtue of hope will lead to the development of fear” (McLeod, 2013). For Jason to be successful at this stage Jason’s parents would need to show Jason security, be predictable, reliable and be consistent in their care with him.
Jason’s mother Kim knowing how to care for an infant because she was only fifteen when she gave birth to Jason, and does not possess the skills to care for a baby, because she herself was not helped by her parents. Kim also has depression and anxiety and isolates herself and has no-one to help her. The family assessment sees that Kim retreats to her room for days so it is questionable as to who gave Jason the care and stability during newborn to eighteen months.
Jason’s father Rick drink to excess and his behaviors due to the drinking may cause Jason to feel unsafe and unprotected as he developed as an infant. As Jason grows gled he will hold a basic sense of mistrust with them to other relationships, this may result in anxiety, insecurities, and an over feeling of mistrust of the world around him (McLeod, 2013). Between the ages of 18 months and three, Jason would have ntered in to the second developmental stage autonomy versus shame and doubt. For a positive end result we would see Jason demonstrate autonomy.
Autonomy means that Jason would be independent, develop confidence and be secure in his own ability to survive in the world (McLeod, 2013). For Jason to be successful in this stage, Jason’s parents would need to allow Jason to explore the limits of his abilities, be encouraging and be tolerant of failure (McLeod, 2013). I believe that Jason may have independence (out of survival and necessity) because he may have been left for long periods of time, because his mother ould stay in her room a lot and his father would have been out at work or out drinking.
Since Kim’s parents are not around for Kim to healthy parenting skills I suspect Kim would not be able to have the patience or awareness to allow Jason to make mistakes and she may respond to his trials and errors with criticism, letting him instead experience shame and doubt. Between the ages of three and five, Jason would have experienced the third stage of development initiative versus guilt. I think that Jason would have trouble successfully meeting this goal.
The goal of this stage according to Erikson is for Jason o develop initiative and one way this is completed is through play, “Central to this stage is play, as it provides children with the opportunity to explore their interpersonal skills through initiating activities” (McLeod, 2013). Whilst at play Jason would plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others and given his opportunity he would develop a sense of initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions (McLeod, 2013). Jason in his short life has moved three schools and this may impact his confidence and self esteem in making riends.
As well, if Jason’s parents were not supportive and dismissive of his inquisitiveness he may have developed a sense of guilt, which in turn can prevent Jason from interacting with other and may inhibit his creativity (McLeod, 2013). In conclusion, the future for Jason does not appear very hopeful in terms of Jason meeting developmental stages (according to Erikson), however, interventions and supportive processes can be put into place to help Jason and his parents, so that he be given an opportunity to learn and grow making the future developmental stages attainable.
