Background
Psychosocial and psychological developments in adolescent years are crucial for individual’s future development. It is highly affected by physical brain development and social environment. Erikson suggests that people progress through a series of stages as they grow and develop through their life. Each stage is linked to an essential conflict that must be solved to successfully develop that stage and progress further. This paper is going to focus on adolescent stage of individual’s behavior.
Erikson’s and Marcia’s Theories
As they transition from childhood to adulthood, teens may begin to feel confused or insecure about themselves and how they fit into society. The main question that is faced during this stage is a question about one’s identity. Erikson (1950) identified the main conflict of teen years as Identity vs. Role confusion. Erikson (1950) defines identity as a “fundamental organizing principal which develops constantly throughout the lifespan” (p.57). The main effect, which influences teens in that period, is defined by social interactions. The role confusion involves self-identity and where one fits in their life, feeling confused and disappointed where one fits in their life. Emma is a thirteen-year-old girl from a large family. She is drifting away from her family and towards her friends. Moreover, she lets her friends’ opinions influence her life choices and stopped making plans for her future. Referring to Erikson’s theory, it can be stated that Emma is lacking self-confidence due to the role confusion. Once she gains it as a benefit to identity, she will be able to develop a strong sense of identity and a sense of trust in her abilities, qualities and judgements.
Identity development is an essential conflict that is related to the adolescent stage of development. Emma has to successfully solve this conflict in order to naturally progress to the next stage. Marcia (1966) developed his research on adolescent identity development on Erikson’s theory. Marcia’s four identity stages are diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement. Diffusion is the beginning point, where identity is not explored yet, the second stage is identity foreclosure, which involves committing to an identity without exploring other options. Usually, this happens as a result of peer or parental pressure. Thirst step is an identity moratorium, where an individual actively explores new things and seeks out alternatives. Final stage is an identity achievement, where various options have been explored and a commitment to an identity is made. Currently, Emma is at the second stage of identity development, foreclosure. Emma is highly influenced by her friends when she chooses her school subjects; her self-esteem is dependable on the opinions of boys from her school. She has not yet started exploring other possibilities and interests that could affect her personality, instead she remain stagnant doing nothing and texting her friends.
Ethical Considerations
When working with Emma, specialist must take into consideration her age and mental development. Of course, the basic ethical issues involved are surrounding privacy, confidentiality, informed consent and assessment. Severe lack of self-esteem makes her incredibly vulnerable to the influence of others. The specialist should involve Emma’s family, because during the adolescent period of self-discovery, parents should support adolescent identity formation (Sznitman et al., 2019). It is important to build up on Emma’s strengths and carefully encourage her to try new things that will help her to discover what she likes without influence of others. It is important for her to spend time by herself in order to get to know herself better. It is important not to rush Emma, and make the process of moving from one stage to another as gentle as possible. Due to her age, Emma needs to feel support and privacy, which should beneficially affect her development. Overall, the ethical considerations involve not only basic ones, but also the ones that are aimed specifically at teens.
References
Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. W. W. Norton & Co.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3(5), 551–558.
Sznitman, A. G., Zimmermann, G., & Van Petegem, S. (2019). Further insight into adolescent personal identity statuses: Differences based on self-esteem, family climate, and family communication. Journal of adolescence, 71, 99–109.