Psychosocial Development of a Child between Two to Five Years

Running head: PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN 1
Psychosocial Development of a child between two to five years
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PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN 2
Introduction
Psychosocial development is the growth of the temperament as well as the gaining of
societal attitudes and abilities from infancy through adulthood. The age group between 2-5
years also known to be the pre-school years is the developmental stage through which children
develop from obstinate toddlers to active discoverers of their world. During this stage, a child
develops and gains skills at his/her own pace. Some skills develop ahead of others like motor
may develop prior to cognitive. Therefore, understanding this development stage can help one
to identify needs of the child earlier and be in a position to handle it with a lot of care.
Important aspects of psychosocial development that occurs in children between 2-5 years.
Since psychosocial development is an endless interaction process between the child and
the environment around it, it is vital to identify the normative and non-normative examples of
this stage of development. The theory of Erik Erikson is essential in understanding the
psychosocial development stages. According to Erikson, the features of understanding
psychosocial development consist of physical paleness and power, historical and cultural
factors, the existing development stage and life antiquity. A child develops in several vital
areas such as sensory and motor development, language, emotional and social development,
and cognitive as well as physical development (Araujo, Dormal, & Schady, 2018). Each area
has got benefit in development where by like in language, by the age of two years most
children are able to speak at least fifty word like in this case of Julie speaking in four to five-
word sentences.
The cognitive and physical changes enable children to progress psychosocially, interact
effectively with other children and form independent identities. According to Erikson

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN 3
psychosocial development starts at the phase of trust versus mistrust. During this phase a child
needs safety and love from the parent or initial contacts in order to create a favorable self-
security and develop a sense of trust towards oneself and others. At the age of 2-3 years, there
is a psychosocial crunch of autonomy versus doubt and shame, at this stage the child develops
a sense of favorable self-concept through associations with friends and family members
(Miller‐Slough et al, 2018).
The repercussions of the psychosocial development become clear when a one shows
unscrupulous behaviors in future that he or she could have elucidated during developmental
stages. For instance, a child who adequately receives good toilet training at the age of 2 years
to 3 years may develop a favorable self-concept and a sense of self-recognition (Newman &
Newman, 2017). Self-recognition assists the child in identifying fully with age mates, this
enhances age mates’ interactions and reduce embarrassment as they grow further. Since there
is no embarrassment, the individual will develop a sense of satisfaction and voluntary control
of defecation and urination. Without proper toilet training at an early age, a child may portray
complications like mistrust, stingy, not completely developing a sense of self-awareness or
grow up to be rigid adults. The case of Julie not yet toilet trained comes in here because for her
attending day care only twice a week limits her from interacting fully with her age mates where
she could have learnt so. Parents, peers and social childcare play significant roles in the
psychosocial development of a child. Through the interaction with parents and peers, children
learn aspects of life like language, problem-solving skills and social-emotional skills. Through
the relationship with the child, parents are also able to spot abnormal manners earlier, for
instance in the case study Victoria is able to discover that Julie has not grasped the toilet
training skills similar to her age mates. (McLeod, 2013).