Developmental analysis and frameworks

Developmental Analysis: Childhood-Adolescence
Childhood and adolescence are two developmental stages in a life where the young ones are growing into young adults. For that reason, they have their own psychological and social needs for wholesome growth and advancement. Each group has its own basic universal needs that need to be addressed depending upon their personal, cultural, and social factors. Childhood requires care and protection, while adolescence demands attention and guidance. The goal of this paper is to use developmental theories and concepts to analyze their developmental processes focusing on childhood and adolescence.
Personal Introduction of Childhood-Adolescence
My name is XYZ, and I was raised to attend Sunday school. My mother, uncle, and my stepfather were involved in my raising, and they were also my support system. I was a bright learner in school and was considered as an honor roll student. My support system rewarded me for my achievements. I had two brothers to whom I close and even helped them since I was the oldest. We had always been involved in sports, and we were raised with many cousins. Our families had frequent gatherings. I knew about what things to refrain from, such as telling lies, miscommitments, staying away from stealing, etc., and was aware of good habits in life, like dealing elders with respect and treating younger ones with love and being obedient to my parents. I wanted to be baptized at the age of 12. Two of my girl cousins and I were discouraged by my family. I made use of my prayers a lot and always helped others. I was always available whenever someone needed a listening ear. I was sensitive and emotional since my mother allowed me to express my feelings.
My parents got separated when I turned 16 years old, and I became a mother at the age of 17. My relationship was abusive and did not work well. Hence, I ended up being a single mother of three kids whom I raised without any help. When I turned 24, I longed for the love of a gentleman since neither did I get love from my father, nor my ex-husband was a man enough to do so.
Theoretical Perspectives of Development
Adolescence is a developmental stage from childhood to adulthood. It is divided into three phases: early adolescence, which ranges from 10 to 14 years, middle adolescence, which ranges from 15 to 17 years, and late adolescence, also called young adulthood, which ranges from 18 to 24 years (Curtis, 2015). Theories have been put forward to understand better how a child’s brain and body develop over time based on social, historical, and cultural progressions. Some theories have been selected here to describe and explain how they are relevant to their childhood and adolescent developments.
Stage of Development According to Freud
Freud suggested that psychological progress in childhood takes place during five psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital (Silverman, 2017). In the first stage, the child’s focus can begin by sucking his thumb for which he makes use of his own body. Although I was raised around several cousins, and we had frequent family gatherings, my mind was focused on playing and having good times with my fellow family members. However, sucking of thumb was evident when I was one or two years old.
The next stage, according to Freud’s theory, is the anal stage. This is the stage where the child is fully aware of his excreting desires and is ready enough to deal with parental demands of toilet training. There is a clash of meeting his parental expectations for cleanliness and his pleasure of discharging bodily wastes. I experienced this stage when I was two and a half years old since it was the time when my parents demanded from me to use the toilet instead of diapers. I was reluctant in the beginning; sometimes, I did on the floor rather than in the washroom and got scolded too. My mother was kind and patient in this matter, and soon, I learned to use the toilet within a matter of a week or two.
The third stage is the phallic stage in which the child becomes aware of his genitals and the pleasures attached. At this stage, mainly boys believe that everyone should have this previous organ, and the clear difference of opposite sex is unmistakable. This stage takes over at the age of 3 to 6 years, and when I was in this phase, I tried to identify myself with my mother because she was of the same sex. I tried to become familiar with the same sex organs that females have, and for that, my mother was the only close same-sex person in our home. There were mixed feelings of tension, fear, and attraction.
Then comes the latency stage at the age of 6 years. It is that time when sexual instincts are inactive and are lost somewhere in new activities such as school, sports, and same-sex friendships. I was also busy in acquiring new skills at that time since there was new knowledge to gain, and playing with my cousins and friends at school was largely overpowering.
The genital stage is the last where the actual sexual experimentation occurs in one’s life. One-to-one relationships nurture that also lead to heterosexual intercourse. However, I became a mother too early for my life developmental stages, at the age of 17, which is clearly defined as the middle adolescence phase. I observed the genital stage quite early in my life and gave birth to my children, which was a new experience for me, both physically and emotionally.
Stage of Development According to Erikson
According to Erikson, there are eight distinct stages of psychosocial development in a person’s life (Marcia & Josselson, 2012). The first phase is trust versus mistrust, that begins roughly around 18 months of age. I was close to my mother, and my trust developed with her consistent care that led to my strong loyalty towards other relationships as well. The virtue of hope was highly dominant in this phase. The second stage is autonomy versus shame, which start after 18 months and stays until three years. During this stage, I was developing control over my physical balance and formed a sense of independence. The virtue of will was dominant since I was supported and encouraged by my elders and became confident enough to survive. The third stage is initiative versus guilt, which begins after three years of age. The virtue of purpose is dominant since I was too engaged in interacting with other students at school. I was starting to develop social skills other than those at home and was keen to explore new opportunities such as planning games, leading others, and making decisions. The fourth stage is the industry versus inferiority, which begins after five years until 12 years. Competency was the dominant virtue in this stage when I was also proud of my accomplishment as I was a bright student at school. My teachers held an essential role in my life, and I was even competent when I played games with my cousins. The fifth phase is identity versus role confusion, which starts after 12 and stays until 18 years. The dominant virtue is fidelity since it was the crucial stage of typical adolescence when I became more aware of my values and beliefs. At the age of 17, I was married and had kids, so I had already planned my future at that time, and my identity was defined. The sixth stage is intimacy versus isolation, which begins after 18 years and stretches up to 40 years. In this stage, love is the dominant virtue that I had lost from my ex-husband but gained in a new form from my children. I was isolated since I brought up my children on my own but gained confidence in managing things alone. The seventh stage is generativity versus stagnation, which starts after 40 years. The dominant virtue in this phase has cared; however, I haven’t reached this stage yet. I plan to give back to society by raising my children well, being productive at work, and involving in community activities so that I feel a sense of involvement and generating positive energy towards society. The eighth phase is despair versus ego integrity, which is experienced after 65 years. I haven’t even reached this phase yet where wisdom is the dominant virtue. Nevertheless, I plan to see life with wisdom and never look back with regrets.
Stage of Development According to Piaget
There are four stages of development based on Piaget’s beliefs. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, starting from birth until two years of age (Simatwa, 2010). At this stage, I was becoming with my surrounding by touching, looking, and tasting. It was highly fascinating for me to observe that my actions cause a change in things around me. For example, when I kicked a ball, it moved away. The second phase is the preoperational stage, which stays from 2 to 7 years of age. At this stage, I was getting better at developing language skills and began to think figuratively. I learned the pictures and their names. I was beginning to know letters ABC and was preparing myself for school. The third stage, concrete operational stage, that began at my seven years of age and stayed till 11 years, was the one in which I started to think logically. For example, I knew which thing is taller and which is shorter, which is hot and which is cold. I was getting familiar with organized understanding and induced reasons from conversations. The fourth and last stage was the formal operational stage, which is for children 12 years and above. At that time, I was entering into my adolescent years and was becoming closer to my religion. I was deducing logic from my observations, and my social and moral beliefs were strongly taking shapes with my progressing years.
Nature versus Nurture
Nature includes our physical appearance, genetics, and biological influences that are already present in our genes and hormones. Nurture is what we take from the environment, upbringing, and social influences. My personality traits and behavior are what I get from my parents. For example, my nature is that I get along with new people easily and am very good with children. This was evident in my childhood as well as adolescence when I started meeting new children at school and started college in adolescence years. Nurture is what I learned from my experiences, such as my parenting style, which is what I got from my mother. I had a stepfather, but my mother was not seen sad after my first father. She loved us the same way, and that is what I learned from my observation. I tried to be as kind and loving towards my children even after my husband left.
Bowlby’s Attachment
According to Bowlby’s attachment theory, there are four stages of an infant’s attachment with the caregiver. The first stage is asocial, which is from birth to six weeks. There was no specific attachment at that stage, but I developed minor recognitions such as giving slight smiles to my mother. Next comes the indiscriminate attachment, which is from 6 weeks to 7 months. At this stage, I started giving clear responses to my caregivers, and in my case, it was my mother. I enjoyed her company and felt sad if she was upset with me. The third stage is a specific attachment, which is from 7 to 9 months. Till this stage, my strongest attachment was with my mother since she was my primary source of love, care, comfort, and protection. Sometimes, I cried when I saw a stranger and wanted to cling even more to my mother only. In the fourth stage, I multiple attachments, which are from 10 months onwards. By this stage, I had developed multiple attachments such as my brothers and my cousins, whom I had started to recognize well.
Faith Development
According to Fowler’s stages of faith and identity, when I was at the first stage, which is a primal or undifferentiated stage, I was not very familiar with my Christianity faith as I was only an infant. I was busy gaining knowledge of my surroundings, and my mother was facing her troubles with my first father and her transition to her second marriage. The second stage, which is the intuitive projective stage, came into my life when I was a preschooler. I needed concrete symbols and Christianity stories, but my family was settling down to the changes in their lives; hence, I was not strong in my beliefs at that time. Next came the stage where I wanted to get baptized, at the age of 12 and in Fowler’s terms, mythic literal stage. My parents discouraged it, but this was the time when I came close to my faith and started to identify myself as a Christian. The synthetic, conventional stage came when I was an adolescent and needed a specific set of values to be followed. I started to wonder things and created my identity by building relations with my family and cousins. My deeper self and companionship helped me gain guidance and support. The individuative reflective stage is when early adulthood tarts, and at that phase, I was already experiencing new things, such as my broken marriage and arrival of my kids. I was committed to my family and knew that I had a responsibility towards my children as my interpersonal relation pushed me to seek further answers to my questions of faith. Conjunctive faith is the stage that I have not experienced yet, but I am close to it. Besides, the universalizing faith stage would help me to harmonize my thoughts and beliefs of Christianity and my actions in the future. I will try my best to practice what I had learned as a Christian.
Challenges and Success
When my mother re-married, it was a challenge for me to accept my new father since a child already has a deep attachment to his biological father. My stepfather was nice and kind. Hence, it did not take much time for me to adjust, but that phase was a hurdle for me to overcome. Furthermore, when my husband left me alone to parent my kids all by myself, I was heartbroken. I did not understand how I will manage on my own with the children who needed guidance and support from their father as well. Nevertheless, I consider it my success that I am now managing to take care of them and providing them with the best available welfares of life that I can.
References
Curtis, A.C. (2015). Defining adolescence. Journal of Adolescent and Family Health, 7(2). Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/jafh/vol7/iss2/2
Marcia, J.E. & Josselson, R. (2012). Eriksonian Personality Research and Its Implications. Journal of Personality, 81. DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12014 
Silverman, D.K. (2017). Psychosexual Stages Of Development (Freud). Springer Link, Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8
Simatwa, E.M.W. (2010). Piaget’s theory of intellectual development and its implication for instructional management at Pre-Secondary school level. Educational Research and Reviews, 5(7), 366-371 https://academicjournals.org/app/webroot/article/article1379610138_Simatwa.pdf