Human Relationships and Life Transitions: Understanding Psychosocial Development in Early Childhood

Running Head: HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS AND LIFE TRANSITIONS 0
Human relationships and life transitions
10/1/2018

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS AND LIFE TRANSITIONS 1
The essay brings about the discussion on the topic human relationships and life
transitions through the life span of an individual. Understanding of human relationships and
life transitions is important for every individual to grow and develop throughout the life. Life
transitions refer to the stage of development of a person from childhood to adulthood, from
the age of 12-20 years. Thus, the essay in the later part describes about psychosocial
development of the child provided in the given case study (Amaro, 2015).
The role and importance of the components of human development, which includes
psychosocial, social, and cognitive components through the lifespan in various stages is
discussed in context to the case study. Julie, a two year and two months old child, is under the
day care 2 days in a week, while her mother works. In reference to her developmental
patterns, there is a detailed description of the child’s psychological development and the
factors influencing (Berk, 2017).
Psychological development in children forms a basis of their learning and
understanding about the world. Psychosocial development refers to the combination of
psychological and interaction of the person with the social environment. The term was
commonly used by the psychologist Erik Erikson, through his concept of stages of social
development. Erikson believed that an individual’s personality is developed through a series
of stages, and people experience conflicts, which affects their development (Black et al.,
2017).
Childhood is a time of tremendous change, but changes in the development of an
individual occurs throughout the life span. It was found in the case that Victoria, the mother
of the child, Julie is concerned as her daughter was not yet provided toilet training, and
children at her daughter’s age seem to have mastered their skills. Children in the age of 2-5
years, includes dimensions such as physical, cognitive, emotional and social, language, and
motor-skills development. The characteristics of psychosocial development in the early-
childhood, includes the physical milestones, which includes walking, running, walking up
stairs, climbing, playing and other such activities (Schonert-Reichl et al., 2015).
Psychosocial development that occurs in children with the age of 2-5 years, which are
often termed as pre-school years, includes eight stages given by Erik Erikson. These stages
include, trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs.
inferiority, identity vs. confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and
integrity vs. despair (Hamre et al., 2014).

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS AND LIFE TRANSITIONS 2
The first stage of psychosocial development occurs between births to 1 years of age,
and considered as the most important stage of life. As Julie in the case is in the stage of early
childhood and dependent on others, therefore development of trust in the child will be based
upon the quality of care given by her caregivers. Caregivers must be consistent, and
emotionally available to her, as a failure to develop trust in Julie will develop fear in her mind
and she will become negative towards the world and people (Newman & Newman, 2017).
The second stage deals with the early childhood and helping child develop great sense of
personal control. As related to the case, toilet training is considered an essential part of this
stage. Her caregivers must provide Julie toilet training as it is vital according to Erikson she
must learn to control body functions. This will lead to a feeling of control and sense of
independence (Britto et al., 2017).
Stage of initiative vs. guilt, the children begins to assert power and control over their
surroundings. Children, who are capable, feel confident and take lead of their life, whereas
those who are unsuccessful feel guilt. Julie must be prepared to reach at the stage of industry
vs. inferiority by her caregivers. This will help her cope with the social and academic
demands and therefore she will become competent along-with other children. Psychosocial
development at every age of Julie is essential to become successful at all these stages (Dunkel
& Harbke, 2017).
Julie reaches the stage of adolescence, i.e. 12-18 years; she must be given an
understanding of developing healthy relationships with people, leading to development of her
personal identity. Young adulthood is the age when the person becomes a little mature about
social and personal relationships (Steinberg & Darling, 2017). The last two stages included in
the theory of psychosocial development included the maturity stage, when the person takes
the responsibility of having children and family (Smith, Cheater & Bekker, 2015). Ego
integrity arises when the person becomes older in the stage of life. Therefore, analysing the
theory of psychosocial development given by Erik Erikson through his stages, it can be
analysed that the psychosocial development in early childhood deals with the third stage. A
number of factors such as improper speech, and language, learning, health and the social
interaction of the child with the parents, and caregivers (Freud, 2018) affect psychosocial
development in children.
Culture influence the child in a number of ways, for example language is one factor,
as children from different cultural backgrounds, speak in different language, and their