Psychosocial Growth and Expression in School-aged Children

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RESPONSE:

1. Integrate the various facets of psychosocial growth and expression taking place in school-aged children, and identify environmental factors that influence such growth and expression.

The word 'psychosocial' is Erikson's term, effectively from the words psychological (mind) and social (relationships). Thus, one theory to consider that deals with psychosocial growth and expression is Erik Erikson (1902-1994), who came up with these 8 psychosocial stages as an improvement on Freud's Psychosexual Stages. They map a human's development throughout their life, and as each stage is resolved it determines the person's personality and social behavior. Each stage has a possible positive and negative outcome. They are still recognized as useful today, although other models have since come to the forefront. The following three stages apply to school-aged children, according to Erikson:

Stage 3. Initiative v. Guilt. 3-6 years (play-school and kindergarten): Children use play to experiment with what kind of person they might become. If the parent demand too much self-control the child might become insecure with who they are.

Stage 4. Industry v. Inferiority. 6-11 years. Children learn to work and cooperate with others. Negative experiences may lead to feelings of incompetence and inferiority.

Stage 5. Identity v. Identity diffusion. Adolescence. The adolescence tries to discover 'Who am I, and what is my place in society?' The resolution (or not) of this will result in your views on your future adult roles. The adolescent is newly concerned with how he or she appears to others. Superego identity is the accrued confidence that the outer sameness and continuity prepared in the future are matched by the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for oneself, as evidenced in the promise of a career. The ability to settle on a school or occupational identity is pleasant. In later stages of Adolescence, the child develops a sense of sexual identity (http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=434134).

Environmental factors

Relationships promote and influence growth and expression. Therefore, the importance of adults (parents and teachers; as well as peers and siblings) cannot be stressed enough in school children, including adolescents. For example, from 3 to 6, the relationship between parent and child must include a positive balance between helping the child develop guilt, of which will encourage self-control, and establishing independence for the goals the child chooses. Independence is significant to goal development and child development in that the child will learn to form a foundation for decision-making and in taking the steps required to set goals.

As the child grows and develops, it is suggested by McDevitt and Ormrod (2002) that: ...