the developmental stage of the family

Running head: HEALTH CARE
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Introduction:
Each individual passes through different stages of change and developmental
transformation according to their age and developmental stages. The phases and patterns of
change in people have been defined by various sociological theorists. Some famous theorist who
have given idea about difference in development patterns of people according to different life
stages include Jean Piaget, Eric Erikson, Lev Vygotsky and many others. Their theory in the area
of developmental stages has helped many social workers and psychologist to predict patterns of
behaviour in different client groups (Crain, 2015). Similar to theories for developmental stages
for individuals, theory also exist for family developmental theory. The family developmental
theory mainly focus on assessing general features of family life and understanding of this theory
helps teaching and counselling services to understand the kind of education or counselling
needed by a family. Such theories also help to interpret overall health of a family and make
comments on family growth and health promotion needs (Kaakinen et al., 2018). This essay aims
to analyse the phases of change in people’s lives by reviewing the case study of the Cameron
family and exploring the developmental stage of the family as a whole and as individual
members. Critical evaluation of various theorist and society views and perspective will be done
to effectively analyse development stage of individual members and family as a whole.
The Cameron family consists of five family members. It includes Jane (30 years),
Michael Cameron (31), Nathan (10 years), Millie (5 years) and Melanie (18 months). Jane and
Michael are the parents of 3 children namely Nathan, Millie and Melanie. This section looks at
the developmental stages of each of the members and provides the rational for the same. Jane is
30 years old and according to Erikson’s theory of psychososcial development, she comes under
the stage of intimacy versus isolation (people in early adulthood from 20s to early 40s). This

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conclusion has been made as she comes under the age of 20-40 years and her psychosocial
development is similar to this stage. Erikson’s theory define that if other developmental staged
prior to intimacy versus isolation is not successfully achieved by an individual, then after
entering this stage, they may face trouble in maintaining successful relationship with others
(Cherry, 2018). However, Jane had good intimacy with her husband as they have been able to
resolve conflicts by good communication and growing up together. Similarly, Jane’s husband
Michael also belongs to the same developmental stage as her wife and they both have been
raised in the same manner with good opportunities for developing their self-identities. However,
according to Piaget’s developmental stages, the couple comes under formal operational stage as
both are above 11 years old. According to developmental milestone at this stage, they are able to
solve problems on their own.
Nathan is 10 years old and he belongs to concrete operation stage according to Piaget’s
theory. Children at this stage are able to master conservation task and learn logical rules. Nathan
is engage in physical activities appropriate to his developmental stage (Crain, 2015). As per
Erikson’s developmental stage, she comes under industry versus inferiority stage as they begin to
compare themselves with their peer (Mooney, 2016). Positive experience at home helped Nathan
to adjust after moving to new town. Millie is five years old. According to Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development, she comes under the preoperational stage as she falls under the age group
of 2-7 years. Children in the preoperational stage develop language and abstract thought and they
are able to pretend play (Crain, 2015). Millie’s activities match with the developmental
milestones of preoperational stage as she loves to engage in drawing and playing pretend play
using her bunny and iPad. However, Eriskon’s theory used different approach to define
development for a 5 years old child. Millie comes under the preschool stage (3-6 years) and