Psychosocial Stage Research Articles

Artificial Intelligence in Human Growth and Development: Applications Through the Lifespan

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications influence human growth and development across the lifespan. This article provides a conceptual model that shows significant AI applications and their influence from prenatal to maturity using Erikson's psychosocial stages as a framework. AI influences development through diverse avenues, encompassing diagnosis, attachment formation, social skill acquisition, relationship dynamics, and caregiver support. The effects of AI interventions can be perceived as advantageous, contentious, and as raising a multitude of ethical considerations. Consequently, we propose avenues for future research endeavors to further investigate the intersection of AI and human growth and development within counseling contexts.

Social Work Competencies In School Settings: Addressing Adolescent Adjustment Challenges

Social work is a helping profession that has the power to improve people’s lives on an individual, family, group, and community level. Increasing society’s overall well-being. In order to help students succeed academically, schools, parents, and communities depend on school social workers. They take the initiative in formulating policies for handling crises, providing support services and managing school behaviors. The period of growth and development that comes between childhood and maturity is known as adolescence. The psycho-social stage of development is characterized by increased stress, behavior problems, and conflict. School social workers offer direct and indirect assistance to students, families, and school personnel. The aim of the present research is to study adolescent student’s adjustment problems and explore the competencies of social workers in dealing with school-going adolescents’ problems, data was collected in shivamogga city with a convenient and purposeful sampling technique with the help of ‘The AISS-SS scale, the findings show that most of the adolescent students have problems related to mental health which they can’t express and social work competencies were playing an important role in dealing with adolescent mental health and adjustment problems in schools.

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON ADOLESCENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

Identity development is significant during adolescence, which requires strong peer relationships through social interactions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has created havoc in human life, where people distanced from each other to save themselves. To overcome this situation, adolescents already born into a digital era who used technology for fun previously increased their dependency on it to learn and develop.This literature review study was conducted using specific criteria that included literature before and after the pandemic and addressed the problem of how adolescents could develop their identity while shifting from face-to-face to virtual platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, this study aimed to observe the adolescent’s identity development before and after the pandemic while considering Erikson’s theory of eight psychosocial stages and Marcia’s identity statuses.Research findings revealed complex positive outcomes and significant negative consequences. The authors argued that whether positive or negative, adolescents’ identity development became weak and pushed them to a new social and historical context that impaired their ability to develop their identity.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with a Late-Life Couple: From Despair to Integrity

This commentary discusses the therapy of "Alice" and "Steve," a late-life married couple using Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT) with a special emphasis on navigating Erik Erikson’s final psychosocial stage, that of Integrity vs. Despair. The support and validation offered the couple by a university-based student clinician allowed the couple to rewrite the narrative of their relationship in ways that helped them connect and be present for each other in a time of illness and impending loss. Implications for the benefits of teletherapy for expanding access are discussed.

Reflecting on the Themes of Aging, Caregiving, Narrative, and Multiculturalism in the EFCT Case of "Alice" and "Steve"'

In this article, I respond to commentaries by Drs. Karen Skean and Elisabeth Brown (2024), and by Dr. Shalonda Kelly (2024) on my presentation of the case of "Alice" and "Steve" (Mendelson, 2024), a later-life couple I treated using Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT). Skean and Brown (2024) meaningfully address the role of EFCT in redefining a relationship narrative within the contexts of caregiving, illness, and loss, drawing from Erik Erikson’s final psychosocial stage of integrity vs. despair and highlighting the benefits of teletherapy for broader access. Kelly (2024) thoughtfully acknowledges both the possibilities and limitations of integrating EFCT and multiculturalism in treating diverse couples, noting areas where the therapist can bridge differences in partners’ worldviews; power; experiences and contexts; and felt sense of distance. In the following response, I reflect on their emotionally and intellectually compelling commentaries and offer feedback to foster discussion on the adaptation of EFCT to work within our clients’ unique generational and cultural frameworks.

Psychosocial Identity, Intimacy and Suicidality in Young Adults

Objective Suicidality in young adults is a serious and growing clinical and social problem. The theory of psychosocial ego development assumes that identity and intimacy are two key factors for adaptation and vulnerability in early adulthood. The aim of the present study was to test whether psychosocial identity and intimacy are related to suicidality in young adults, even when controlling for confounding variables (depressive symptoms, sex, age, health and economic assessment, religious commitment, and pandemic-related distress). Method Respondents aged 18–25 (n = 607) completed the Identity-Confusion and Intimacy-Isolation subscales from the Modified Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory, as well as the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised and answered questions about the pandemic-related distress and various sociodemographic factors. Results At the level of bivariate analyses, both identity and intimacy were negatively associated with suicidal risk in the overall sample and with the frequency of suicidal ideation in the suicide risk subsample (n = 242). Weaker identity, but not intimacy, was associated with belonging to a suicide risk group in multivariable logistic regression. Moreover, ordinal regression showed that, in the subgroup with suicide risk, identity was negatively associated with the frequency of suicidal thoughts. Conclusions Identity is a negative correlate of suicidality in young adults. Identity-focused therapy may be a promising target for intervention in suicidal young adults.

Psychometric properties of persian version of escapism scale among Iranian adolescents

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Escapism Scale among Iranian adolescents aged 14–18. Between January 2021 and August 2021, cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenience sampling method to select 566 participants (340 girls and 226 boys) to investigate the relationship between physical activity and mental health in adolescents. The participants completed several questionnaires, including the Escapism Scale, Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Hope Scale (AHS), Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), and General Self-efficacy (GSE). Construct validity, reliability using Cronbach’s alpha, and concurrent validity were used to evaluate the Escapism Scale’s validity and reliability. Results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicated that a two-factor model provided a good fit for the data: sbX2 = 179.99 (p < 0.01); SRMR = 0.07; RMR = 0.56, CFI = 0.91; NFI = 0.89; IFI = 0.91; NFI = 0.89; GFI = 0.93; AGFI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.076). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for escapism was 0.73. The study found a significant positive relationship between escapism and smartphone addiction (r = 0.19). Additionally, a significant negative relationship was observed between escapism and hope (r=-0.31), satisfaction with life (r=-0.34), and general self-efficacy (r=-0.33). Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between escapism and gender. Lastly, the study found a significant relationship between escapism and identity confusion (r = 0.164, P < 0.01) and identity coherence (P < 0.01, r = 29). In conclusion, the Escapism Scale is a valid and reliable tool for assessing escapism and psychological evaluations in Iranian adolescents. These results may inform future research and suggest re-testing in clinical populations.

THE USE OF INTERACTIVE STORYBOOK WITH DEMONSTRATION AS A SUPPLEMENTAL TOOL IN TEACHING THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: AN ACTION RESEARCH

This study aims to measure the effectiveness of an interactive storybook with demonstrations as a supplemental tool in teaching theories of child development. The researchers implemented their own storybook and a sixty (60) item questionnaire, with ten (10) questions for each theory of Freud's 3 Components of Personality and Psychosexual Stages, Erikson’s psycho-social stages of development; Piaget’s stages of cognitive development; Kohlberg’s stages of moral development; Vygotsky’s language and zone of proximal development; and Bronfrenbrenner's ecological system theory. The participants of this study are the students from the Bachelor of Secondary Education of UM Digos College for the School Year 2022-2023 who have already taken EDUC 101: Child and Adolescent Development subject. The result of the study revealed that there is a significant difference in the pre-test (x̄=19.84, SD=11.44) and post-test (x̄=52.36, SD=2.72) scores of students; t(21) = -13.389, p = 0.000. In addition, the innovation increased students’ overall performance by 62.15%, indicating that the created innovation is effective. Overall, the result revealed that using a storybook with demonstration allows students to increase their performance in child development theories. Based on the findings, the researchers concluded that using the aforementioned supplemental tools would aid the teachers in delivering the concepts of child development theories.&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/soc/0057/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Behind the Eyes of Adolescents from Broken Families

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of adolescents from broken families. This utilized an in – depth interview to gather responses from six (6) participants who were within the range of 13 – 19 years old, enrolled in Junior or Senior High School, have parents who were formerly married but separated in a period of 5 - 10 years (during the child’s early childhood to adolescence period based on Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development), and live in a province in the Philippines. The following themes, family as an emotional system, emotional setbacks, changes in their interpersonal relationship, acts of rebellion, went through the stages of grief, friends as support system, faithfulness in God, and hopeful and moving forward were derived from the study. Children from broken families displayed emotional distress that affected different aspects of their lives, but despite this challenging reality of being part of broken families, the participants of this study remained hopeful about their future. Indeed, the love and support of their loved ones served as a motivating force for them to be optimistic in life.

대학생의 불안정한 성인애착과 정서표현 양가성의 관계

Objectives This study examines the mediating effect of internalized shame in the relationship between unstable adult attachment and ambivalence over emotional expression of college students who are in the early adulthood, who must accomplish the developmental task of ‘formation of intimacy’ in the psychosocial development stage. This study identified the process that affects the ambivalence over emotional expression according to the adult attachment type of college students. And it is expected that this study will suggest the direction of counseling and program development or psychological education intervention for college students in the future. Methods For this study, we conducted a survey by conveniently sampling 242 college students aged 18 years or older who are currently attending or taking a leave of absence from domestic universities. We used SPSS 22.0 for the data analysis of this study, and performed frequency analysis for the demographic variables of the study subject and verification of the reliability of the scale(Cronbach'α). In addition, we conducted Pearson correlation analysis to identify the relationship between variables, and conducted three-step multiple regression analysis and sobel test to verify the mediating effect of internalized shame. Results First, the results of analyzing the correlations between each variable of college students' unstable adult attachment, internalized shame, and ambivalence over emotional expression all showed significant positive correlations. Second, as a result of examining the mediating effect of internalized shame by classifying unstable adult attachment into sub-variables, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, it was partially mediated between attachment anxiety and emotional expression ambivalence. On the other hand, it completely mediated between attachment avoidance and emotional expression ambivalence. Conclusions This study shows that college students with unstable adult attachment type are more likely to feel shame, such as incompetent or inappropriately experiencing themselves, by internalizing negative evaluations and experiences from important subjects in the past. In addition, it was shown that this again leads to psychological conflicts due to hesitation and habitual inhibition of emotional expression.

Pengaruh Fanatisme Korean Pop Terhadap Perilaku Imitasi Remaja (Studi Komunitas Purple Army Pekanbaru)

This research is motivated by one of the tasks of adolescent development, namely to find a model human who becomes their identity, the model human who becomes the identity of teenagers in this study is a k-pop idol, besides that at the psychosocial stage of adolescence, they are in the stage of identity search versus identity confusion, which from this stage, many teenagers fail in a process of forming self-identity which will cause teenagers to have fanaticism, this fanaticism arises as a result of the process of cultural interaction between individuals with one another, so that it will give birth to a new form of behavior, namely imitation behavior. The problem in this study is whether there is a significant influence between k-pop fanaticism on the behavior of teenagers in the purple army community in Pekanbaru. While the purpose of the study was to see if there was a significant influence between k-pop fanaticism on adolescent behavior. In obtaining the data in the study, the author uses quantitative research methods with a population of 57 people with data collection techniques using questionnaires and analyzed through simple linear regression.

INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL AVAILABILITY ON THE PSYCHOSOCIAL WELLBEING OF ADOLESCENTS IN KANDARA SUB-COUNTY, MURANG’A KENYA

This study aimed at determining the influence of parental involvement on psychosocial wellbeing of adolescents in Kandara, Murang?a County, Kenya. The objective was to determine the extent to which in parental availability influences the psychosocial wellbeing of adolescents. Theories used were Erikson?s Theory of psychosocial stages of Development (Macleod,2012) and Brofenbrenner?s Ecological Systems Theory (Guy-Evans,2020). Target population was 16,280 adolescents with a sample size of 390 adolescents from 18 secondary schools, 18 parents and 18 teacher counselors selected through random systematic sampling. The study employed descriptive survey research design, SPSS version 26 was used in data analysis, chi square test statistics used to test the null hypothesis at ? = 0.05. Descriptive statistics was used in analyses of the quantitative data and results expressed in percentages and frequencies and findings presented in graphs and tables and quantitative data was analyzed thematically. Finding showed a significant relationship between parental availability and adolescent?s psychosocial wellbeing 0.000<p<0.05 thus null hypothesis was rejected. Recommendations included providing support, counseling programs for adolescents and parents to enhance adolescent?s psychosocial wellbeing.

Experience of childhood cancer: A narrative inquiry.

To more fully understand the possible impact of childhood cancer on a young person's life through their own story. Using Connelly and Clandinin's narrative inquiry method, a participant named Noelle was engaged in a series of narrative interviews and a creative self-expression activity about her cancer experience when she was 12. Her story was examined through the three-dimensional space of experience (person, place, and time), and analyzed using Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development framework theoretical lens. Two significant narrative patterns emerged: identity and relationships. Although the physical effects of the cancer were successfully treated, the impact of this disease impacted Noelle's own psychosocial development as she was trying to evolve her relationships with peers and family, while grappling with her new identity as a cancer patient. Healthcare professionals need to intentionally increase their sensitivity to adolescent patients' lived experience of cancer. More specifically, there is a need for further education of healthcare professionals on the psychosocial impact of cancer in both the immediate and long-term trajectory of the cancer disease process.

The Influence of Health Education and Group Therapy on Adolescent Online Gamers' Self-Concepts

Introduction: The rapid development of online games is currently marked by the increasing number of adolescent game players. This was particularly true during the COVID-19 pandemic that forced all activities to be done at home. Adolescents who play online games excessively, however, can risk their self-concept. Adolescents’ ability to control the increasing habit of playing online games can help them reduce the risk of self-concept problems by enhancing their adaptive behavior at their crucial psychosocial development stage. Health education and group therapy can be employed to attain this goal. Aims: The authors of this study aim to determine the effectiveness of health education and group therapy regarding the self-concept of adolescents who play online games excessively. Methods: As the research design, this study applied a quasi-experimental pre-posttest with a control group. The research respondents were selected using the stratified, proportional, and simple random sampling techniques. Seventy-six adolescents comprised the respondents of this study, divided into two groups. The respondents’ inclusion criteria were adolescents aged 15–16 years old who had played online games for at least the last 12 months. Results: The self-concept of adolescents in the intervention group has increased after implementing health education and group therapy (p &lt; .05). In contrast to this, the self-concept of adolescents in the control group has not changed after implementing health education and group therapy (p &gt; .05). Conclusions: Health education and group therapy effectively improve the self-concept of adolescent gamers.

The Big Five Personality as A Predictor of Involvement in Violence among Students in Secondary Schools in Nyando Sub-County, Kenya

Involvement in violence among students is a common menace not only in Nyando Sub-county, Kenya but also in the whole world. Predicting involvement in violence based on the big five personalities could be useful in developing various personality-based interventions to involvement in violence. This prompted the present study to investigate both qualitative and quantitative Predictiveness of the big five personalities to involvement in violence. The convergent parallel mixed-method research design was used. Multistage random sampling was used to generate a sampling size of 418 students. Apart from the students, 26 teacher counselors and 26 deputy headteachers were also interviewed in order to triangulate the sources of information. Both self-report questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data. The results indicated that the big five personalities were significantly predictive of involvement in violence at 23.4% (F (5, 391) = 26.886 p &lt; 0.05 and R2 = 0.23). Hence other factors (apart from the big five personalities) predictive of involvement in violence which was qualitatively explored included: environmental factors, social factors, economic factors, familial factors, political factors, cultural factors, the psychosocial stages of development, exposure levels of a person, temperamental issues, modernism, and post-modernism. These other factors were assumed to predict involvement in violence at 76.6%. Therefore to minimize involvement in violence, more personality-based interventional measures should be applied.

The Psychosocial Development of the Seminarians and the Positive affirmation Skills Intervention (PASI)

A group of Filipino seminarians (experimental group) had an intervention of Positive thoughts enhancement and Interpersonal skills developed by the researcher (11 modules) tailored fit for a Filipino culture seminarians and another group of Filipino seminarians (controlled group) had a normal setting lecture of formation. A pre-test and posttest of the seminarians’ psychosocial development with a Psychosocial Development measurement tool (The Modified Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory - MEPSI) was used to find out if there was an efficacy of the intervention. The posttest result of the experimental group was significantly higher than those of the control group which indicated that the intervention program (Positive Affirmation Skills Intervention – (PASI) was effective on the Psychosocial Development of the Seminarians. An incremental increase in the scores of the experimental group after exposure in the intervention and the participants in the experimental group experienced not only an enhancement of their psychosocial development attributes but had a high level of self-depth as compared to the control group which made an impact on their psychosocial development characteristics and attributes.

Implications of identity resolution in emerging adulthood for intimacy, generativity, and integrity across the adult lifespan.

Erikson's psychosocial stage model posits that identity formation is a key developmental task for adolescents, and that successfully resolving the identity versus role confusion crisis at this time of life has important impacts on psychosocial development through adulthood. However, little empirical work has tested the consequences of early-life identity development for progression through the subsequent psychosocial stages in Erikson's model. The purpose of the present study was to test whether identity resolution measured during emerging adulthood predicted later developmental trajectories of intimacy, generativity, and integrity across adulthood. We used data from four cohorts of participants in the Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study (RALS; N = 1,224), with up to five assessments spanning the twenties through the sixties. Latent growth curve modeling was used to estimate developmental trajectories for intimacy, generativity, and integrity, and to test the association between emerging adulthood identity resolution and growth parameters for each psychosocial outcome. Findings suggested that individuals with higher emerging adulthood identity resolution also experienced high levels of intimacy, generativity, and integrity in emerging adulthood, and these levels remained consistently high across adulthood. In contrast, those with lower identity resolution in emerging adulthood experienced lower initial levels of intimacy, generativity, and integrity, but faster growth over time. As a result, these trajectories appeared to nearly converge by the time participants were in their sixties, suggesting that one's emerging adulthood identity has less importance over time, and that individuals who struggled more with identity formation in adolescence and emerging adulthood are able to make up for it later in life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Internalization of Appearance Ideals and Appearance Comparison among Adolescent Boys and Girls: The Role of Identity Formation

ABSTRACT The detrimental impact of sociocultural pressures on adolescents’ body image has been widely established. However, it remains unclear why or for whom such pressures lead to increased appearance ideals internalization and appearance comparison. This cross-sectional study investigated moderating and indirect effects of identity confusion/synthesis in the relationship between (1) sociocultural pressures and (2) appearance ideals internalization and appearance comparison. The study comprised 685 community adolescents (13–19 years; Mage = 14.80; SDage = 0.93; 55.2% girls). Participants completed self-report questionnaires on sociocultural pressures (Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-4; SATAQ-4), identity confusion/synthesis (Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory; EPSI), thin-ideal and muscular-ideal internalization (SATAQ-4), and appearance comparison (Physical Appearance Comparison Scale; PACS). Structural equation models with latent variables were estimated. The current results pointed to both moderating and indirect effects of identity formation in the relationship between sociocultural pressures and appearance ideals internalization and appearance comparison in boys and girls. No significant differences were found between boys and girls in the moderating or indirect models. These results highlight the need to integrate identity functioning in sociocultural theories on body image formation, and to address a healthy identity development in prevention and intervention programs targeting appearance ideals internalization and appearance comparison in adolescents.

Association between long-range temporal correlations in intrinsic EEG activity and subjective sense of identity

The long-range temporal correlation (LRTC) in resting-state intrinsic brain activity is known to be associated with temporal behavioral patterns, including decision making based on internal criteria such as self-knowledge. However, the association between the neuronal LRTC and the subjective sense of identity remains to be explored; in other words, whether our subjective sense of consistent self across time relates to the temporal consistency of neural activity. The present study examined the relationship between the LRTC of resting-state scalp electroencephalography (EEG) and a subjective sense of identity measured by the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI). Consistent with our prediction based on previous studies of neuronal-behavioral relationships, the frontocentral alpha LRTC correlated negatively with identity confusion. Moreover, from the descriptive analyses, centroparietal beta LRTC showed negative correlations with identity confusion, and frontal theta LRTC showed positive relationships with identity synthesis. These results suggest that more temporal consistency (reversely, less random noise) in intrinsic brain activity is associated with less confused and better-synthesized identity. Our data provide further evidence that the LRTC of intrinsic brain activity might serve as a noise suppression mechanism at the psychological level.

Psihosocijalni razvoj i afektivna vezanost u kasnoj adolescenciji

The study deals with the relationship between psychosocial development and attachment in late adolescence. The aim is to examine the relationship between the success in resolving the crises of psychosocial development and attachment dimensions and to investigate the differences between attachment styles with respect to the success in resolving the crises of psychosocial development. The Questionnaire for Attachment Assessment, II revision (UPIPAV-R) and The Modified Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (MEPSI) were applied on the sample of 212 students (aged 2026) of faculties and colleges situated in Belgrade. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between attachment dimensions and the success in resolving tasks of psychosocial development, with three significantly connected pairs of structures between two sets of variables. The securely attached adolescents were significantly and consistently more successful in resolving the crises of psychosocial development in comparison with the insecurely attached adolescents. They also showed a higher level of general psychosocial matureness. Significant differences in resolving the crises of psychosocial development were obtained between adolescents with different forms of insecure attachment. Based on the success in resolving the crises of psychosocial development, 59.4% of respondents were classified in the original attachment group, including: 76.6% with secure attachment, 57.1% with preoccupied, 56.6% with dismissing and 41.3% with fearful attachment.