James Marcia, in furthering Erik Erikson’s work, theorized that there are four stages of psychosocial development. Many of these stages are faced in adolescence. In fact, I would argue that a secondary educator will, more than likely, have to contend with all four stages in a classroom. It would be interesting to delve into the four development stages and see what correlation they have to different parenting styles and/or marital success and modeling in the home. But, I digress...
The four stages of development are:
Identity Diffusion - where an adolescent feels that they have to make little to no choices but they have little to no commitment.
Identity Foreclosure - where and adolescent seems willing to make some longer range plans, takes on significant roles, or begin to form values but still rely on those around them. They have not explored a lot of options in terms of career and future but mostly trust parents or their sensei (MKO) in their suggestions.
Identity Moritorium - Crisis time! The adolescent is taking on more responsibility, becoming more independent, asking a LOT of internal questions about who they are and what they believe. (Did ma and pa really have it right?). But haven’t made solid commitments to those beliefs or paths yet.
Identity Achievement - Where the adolescent feels like they have it figured out or at least commits to it. Basically, the aftermath (good or bad) of an identity crisis and how they feel they fit into the “fabric” of their social situations.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These stages are not necessarily a sequential process. For example, a teen that has been ultra sheltered may start in a Diffusion stage, get out on their own for a while and move straight to a Moritorium stage when they encounter all the things they have been shielded from. They may find themselves in what they perceive to be an Achievement stage. However, they find out that the choices they have made and committed to are not really jiving with their goals. This may send them back to a Moritorium or, if they move back in with mommy maybe even a Forclosure stage where those choices are handed back to parents. This is why I think that all four stages are found in a secondary classroom. This is also why I think that there might be some (though not always) correlation between parenting, marital status and stage of psychosocial development. If students are handed a crisis by way of divorce or abuse early, this could very well affect their ability to progress and find Achievement. Or the word Achievement may be a misnomer as the “achievement” is the unfortunate end of I’m worthless because my parents don’t love me or abused me.
Either which way, it is important as an educator to be aware that our students are going through “stuff.” Some of them good stuff, a lot of them bad stuff. Stuff that we may not fully understand. Their experience in school may be completely different from ours in terms of social, home, and other pressures. Kindness is always called for. Understanding and patience are always deserved even if they are not earned. This is the path to real achievement.
The four stages of development are:
Identity Diffusion - where an adolescent feels that they have to make little to no choices but they have little to no commitment.
Identity Foreclosure - where and adolescent seems willing to make some longer range plans, takes on significant roles, or begin to form values but still rely on those around them. They have not explored a lot of options in terms of career and future but mostly trust parents or their sensei (MKO) in their suggestions.
Identity Moritorium - Crisis time! The adolescent is taking on more responsibility, becoming more independent, asking a LOT of internal questions about who they are and what they believe. (Did ma and pa really have it right?). But haven’t made solid commitments to those beliefs or paths yet.
Identity Achievement - Where the adolescent feels like they have it figured out or at least commits to it. Basically, the aftermath (good or bad) of an identity crisis and how they feel they fit into the “fabric” of their social situations.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These stages are not necessarily a sequential process. For example, a teen that has been ultra sheltered may start in a Diffusion stage, get out on their own for a while and move straight to a Moritorium stage when they encounter all the things they have been shielded from. They may find themselves in what they perceive to be an Achievement stage. However, they find out that the choices they have made and committed to are not really jiving with their goals. This may send them back to a Moritorium or, if they move back in with mommy maybe even a Forclosure stage where those choices are handed back to parents. This is why I think that all four stages are found in a secondary classroom. This is also why I think that there might be some (though not always) correlation between parenting, marital status and stage of psychosocial development. If students are handed a crisis by way of divorce or abuse early, this could very well affect their ability to progress and find Achievement. Or the word Achievement may be a misnomer as the “achievement” is the unfortunate end of I’m worthless because my parents don’t love me or abused me.
Either which way, it is important as an educator to be aware that our students are going through “stuff.” Some of them good stuff, a lot of them bad stuff. Stuff that we may not fully understand. Their experience in school may be completely different from ours in terms of social, home, and other pressures. Kindness is always called for. Understanding and patience are always deserved even if they are not earned. This is the path to real achievement.
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