Erikson's Psychosocial Crisis Theory

This week's discussion of Chapter 12 stage of middle adulthood, has provided an opportunity to notice some decisions an individual has made concerning the financial advancement needed for a mother to care for her child. The mother made a decision early in her life to begin a relationship with a guy which lead to her being a single mother, abased, abandoned and humiliated. A typical so called path of poverty and stagnation. Long story short, this mother made a cognizant decision to have self-efficacy in her future and her child. Her first decision was to realize that she needed to make a change for her and her child. She decided to reform her position of living on Government assistance and take on a part-time sitting job to generate more finances in her home. These were not easy task but were durable through baby steps. "The psychosocial crisis of generativity versus stagnation can be understood as a pressure on the adult to be committed to improving the life conditions of future generations (Erikson, 1963)" (Newman & Newman, 2015, p. 512). It is seen through Erikson's psychosocial crisis theory of generativity versus stagnation that the mother made a cognizant decision which in the long term of things, set her family back on course. This mother took on a part-time job realizing that she has to generate something more to develop some capital. "Erikson proposed that the resolution of earlier psychosocial issues forms the basis for resolution of subsequent issues" (Whitbourne et al, 2009, p.1329).

The situational impact this mother has undergone was leading her down a road of poverty and bad choices, few job …show more content…
M. & Newman, P. R. (2015). The Development through lkfe: A Psychosocial approach. (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Whitbourne, S. K., Sneed, J. R. & Sayer, A. (2009). Psychosocial development from college through mid life: A 34-year sequential study. Developmental Psychology, 45(5), 1328-1340.