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The next stage is a 10 year range from 14-24 year olds. It is the Fidelity: Identity vs Role Confusion stage. Here the person is going through the “What do others think about me?” question. They are wondering what they want to be when they grow up and later they are developing a sense of sexual identity. It seems though in our day and age this may be happening earlier than it did in the past. Remember our talk on the superego well this is where he begins to really start to shine. In the past stages the Id had a lot of control and the child was more impulsive now the child/adolescent/adult is beginning to think more in terms of looking “good” for others whoever those others may be.
In the beginning there will be some role-confusion as the adolescent begins to ponder how he/she will fit into the adult world. They begin to explore who they are as a person and their own identity. Erikson proposed that a majority of the adolescents learn their place and find their identity. This is one of the biggest identity crisis moments a person will pass through. The individual will be looking at who they have become and comparing it to what society expects them to become. This stage represents the bridge between childhood and adulthood. Of note here is because of society this stage is prolonged because of the time it takes to gain the skills needed for an occupation.
The dilemma in this stage is when society is too insistent on who the individual should become it can cause confusion in the individual. If an individual is given space to explore and find for themselves who they are then they will gain a strong sense of identity. Of course there needs to be boundaries but allowing the individual to have more space is necessary for them to find out who they are.
This is the YA novel stage and the many conflicts that evolve in this stage are fun to explore and examine. We have many great examples of this in movies and books. What are some of your favorite? Of course you can name your own as wellJ
i can appreciate that dilemna as it played out in my life and i see it played out in the ones that i counsel...
ReplyDeleteLeaving school at 15, married at 19 and by the time I was 24 was the mother of 2 sons. Perhaps early up todays ages but I wouldn't change one bit.
ReplyDeleteFound the post so interesting.
Yvonne.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI find that the best YA novel focus on that change--and howit plays into the events that are going on around the character.
Here is what I find interesting. It is true that the children today are experiencing things earlier than previous generations. I only have to look at my little sister to see this. But if you move back far enough, say the 1800s, they were moving really fast. Granted they had a shorter life span. I just hope that no matter what age these stages happen, that children have a chance to be children and that people end up happy.
ReplyDeleteI find that this is especially prevalent in Fantasy YA. You get heroes running off to save the world who are only 16, or even younger. They have to decide what they want to do with their lives, which isn't often stay home and take care of the family farm. One of the few issues I have with YA is that the focus is so much on the young adult's development, it often leaves the adults looking incompetent because the young adult is the hero and wants to do it without the help from adults.
Okay, I've blathered on enough.
Thanks for the overview. It's true that the bridge into independent living is hampered with this economy. I have three sons in this age group struggling to forge careers.
ReplyDelete