Identifying specific stages in personal development is essential to understanding the changes that one goes through. As a result, the problems that one may face at the specified time slots become easily identifiable and addressable. To evaluate the efficacy of the models suggested by Erikson, Vaillant, Levinson, and Peck, two interviews with a male and a female participant aged 42 and 47 correspondingly were asked a series of questions about their personal and professional progress and how they felt about it. The participants gave informed consent noting that they agreed to supply their answers for an academic study.
The interview results have displayed a remarkably strong tendency toward supporting Levinson’s assumption concerning women facing a significantly larger number of issues in the transfer to their adulthood than men particularly, as far as their roles in the contemporary society are concerned. As the interview with the female participant of 42 years has shown, this woman was forced to choose between devoting herself to her family and leading a successful business live. While the specified phenomenon can be viewed as rather expected as far as the sociocultural environment of the 1950s and the development of the 15-year-old respondent are concerned, it was rather unexpected to see a 42-year-old participant to have been experiencing the same issue. Therefore, it can be assumed that the changes in the gender roles within the modern society have not yet been finished and that a significant amount of time is required for the society to accept the fact that the process of roles distribution can be flexible (Ashford & LeCroy, 2012). As a result, the female participant of the interview indicated significantly negative rates in her emotional development. Likewise, a drop in the cognitive development among the target participants can be spotted.
The interview has also displayed the tendency for older participants to pay an increasingly big attention to their spiritual development than the younger ones. The phenomenon under analysis supports Peck’s theory of spiritual development (Santrock, 2013). To be more exact, the fact that the participants displayed rather low uncertainty rates as far as their personal beliefs are concerned complies with the principles of Peck’s theory. For instance, Peck makes it clear that people tend to get their life values in order as they progress; consequently, adolescents’ personal beliefs are more likely to be chaotic than the ones of adults belonging to an older age group (Austrian, 2013). The physical development, in its turn, seems to be shifted into the background.
Similarly, the interviews results support the theory of development provided by Erikson and Vaillant. According to the latter, people aged 20–29 face the dilemma of intimacy vs. isolation, whereas people in their 40s–60s tend to battle the psychological programs identified as generativity vs. stagnation (Maddox, 2013). The participants of the interview, in their turn, admitted that they faced similar personal conflicts. Specifically, when being in their early 20s, they showed the tendency to have complicated relations with their parents, being reluctant to break the close bonds with them, ant the same time evidently feeling uncomfortable sharing every bit of their personal life with them. The participants aged 42, and 47 made it quite clear that they devote a significant amount of their time to their spiritual evolution. Particularly, the participants in question claimed that they have started visiting church more often over the past few years and focus on their personal values and virtues, questioning their role in the universe and their relationships with God. Therefore, Erikson’s theory also proves an efficient tool for identifying the stages of people’s evolution (Santrock, 2013); however, the theory suggests a different way of looking at the subject matter, pointing to people’ need for spiritual progress as a crucial part of the personal one (Scheck, 2014).
Base on the analysis carried out above, it will be reasonable to assume that the participants under analysis are in their state of facing the conflict of generativity versus stagnation, according to Erikson. Particularly, the respondents obviously question their place in life as far as their impact on the society and the professional and personal development is concerned. Although the interviewees have accomplished a lot, they still need to convince themselves that their efforts have been worthwhile and that their endeavors can be deemed as successful. The respondents also seem to be spending a lot of time and effort on reconciling with their faith and evolving spiritually, as Peck’s theory suggests (Santrock, 2013). It is assumed that the emphasis on the significance of spirituality in their lives is only going to grow, as Peck’s stages of development predict. The middle adulthood transition, which the interviewees are likely to be experiencing soon, as well as the middle adulthood stage, in general, makes them look back at their life accomplishments and make sure that they are satisfied with the outcomes of their work. The transfer to the stage in question is especially evident in the female participant of the interview, as she seems to be uncertain about her professional development and her career. The issues, which she is having currently, are likely to pose a significant threat to her transition to the middle adulthood stage. Therefore, it is desirable that the participant in question should reconsider her priorities and reevaluate the choices that she made to understand that her life does not include any crucial mistakes that would affect her in the future.
Reference List
Ashford, J., & LeCroy, C. (2012). Brooks/Cole empowerment series: Human behavior in the social environment. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning.
Austrian, S. G. (2013). Developmental theories through the life cycle. New York City, New York: Columbia University Press.
Maddox, G., L. (2013). The encyclopedia of aging: A comprehensive resource in gerontology and geriatrics. Berlin: Springer.
Santrock, J. W. (2013). Life-span development (15th ed.) [Grand Canyon University version]. Web.
Scheck, S. E. (2014). The stages of psychosocial development according to Erik H. Erikson. GRIN Verlag.