Catherine's Background and Relationships
Catherine is a twenty-four year old woman who works as a nurse in a healthcare facility located in Kansas City. She lives alone in an apartment within the city and is in a relationship with a thirty-year-old man who works as a casual laborer in the city. They have been in this relationship for two months. Before her involvement with this man, she was engaged to a doctor who works in the same facility, but the relationship ended due to differences in life goals, such as the appropriate time for having children, and disagreements in the allocation of roles and responsibilities for each spouse. She does not have children. Her immediate family consist of a father, mother, three brothers and a sister. The family, however, stays in New York, but they occasionally meet, especially during family gatherings and other functions, such as engagements, marriages, and thanksgiving, which require the presence of each member of the family. Catherine has a bachelor's degree in nursing and her social relationship with workmates, family, friends, and neighbors is good. Her financial status is stable because she has a stable job which is permanent and pensionable. She is a close friend with whom I share ideas, life experiences, and personal dreams and aspirations in life.
Erikson's Psychosocial Theory of Development
In this paper, Erikson's psychosocial theory of development will be used to assess Catherine's growth and development. According to Crain (2015), this theory describes various stages of growth and development in which an individual goes through from birth until their old age. These stages include infancy, early childhood, pre-school, school age, adolescence, early adulthood, adulthood, and maturity. In each of these stages, there are specific virtues, crises, relationships, and habits attributed to individuals. These attributions are also significant in distinguishing a person at one stage from an individual at a different stage of development.
Catherine's Early Adulthood Stage
Catherine is at the early adulthood stage of growth and development. Crain (2015) asserts that individuals at this stage are aged between twenty and thirty-nine years of age. In this developmental level, the physical development of the human female is complete in terms of height, but the body weight can change. Additionally, physical development is affected by a person’s preferences of their diet. A common feature of individuals at this stage is that they take charge of their appearance through controlling their diet and engaging in exercises or sports. Catherine is 5 foot 6 inches tall and her body weight is 148 pounds. She claims that she does not allow her weight to exceed 150 pounds due to fear of being considered fat by her friends, and especially male ones. In order to control her weight, she carefully chooses her diet and avoids foodstuff which may increase her weight drastically. She also engages in exercises at the gym during her free time.
Love and Companionship
The growth and development theory developed by Erikson posits that individuals at the early adulthood stage have a tendency of seeking love and companionship with the aim of creating their own families. In most societies, an individual chooses their spouse after engaging in an intimate relationship in which they court for a period of time before getting married. However, in other societies, there are common occurrences of arranged marriages in which individuals do not autonomously choose their partners and as such, they do not get a chance for courtship (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2018). In Catherine’s case, there is freedom to date and choose a spouse without the interference of her family or friends. The fact that she was engaged, ended the relationship, and later became involved with a different person demonstrates that Catherine has met the expectations of an individual at this stage. Erikson’s theory explains that end of intimate relationships and being neglected by one’s peers may result in isolation and as such, an individual may develop negative emotions such as feelings of angst as well as hatred towards other people in the society (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2018). However, Catherine neither isolated herself from the society nor developed hatred for members of the society to which she belonged after her engagement ended. Instead, she was involved in an intimate relationship with another person in an attempt to realize her life goal of having her own family. She argues that her persistence in pursuing intimate relationships is motivated by the desire to marry a person with a similar vision and mission in life.
Catherine's Cognitive Development
Additionally, Catherine’s cognitive development is at the post-conventional level. According to Lind (2017), Lawrence Kohlberg developed three cognitive levels which include: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. The pre-conventional level is characterized by an individual behaving in a manner which is less likely to result in punishment. People at this stage are motivated by the desire to get rewards and avoid punishment. Individuals in the conventional stage act in a manner that is stipulated by the society they live in and chances of deviating from socially sanctioned behavior are limited. In the post-conventional level, individuals are autonomous in their decisions and they are not limited to what is socially approved. Catherine’s conduct is influenced by her principles. She claims that she does not act to please the society and her actions are not influenced by her friends or peers. For instance, she argues that the society considers women who occasionally have intimate relationships with various men as immoral. She is however not deterred by this conception in her quest to find the most appropriate partner to marry.
Considering Peers' Opinions and Society's Expectations
Despite her success in autonomous control of her life and choices, Catherine has not been considerate of the opinions of her peers and the social dictates of the society in which she lives. Erikson’s theory argues that people at the stage of early adulthood have a habit of seeking approval of their peers and their societies. If this approval is not achieved, a person becomes estranged from the society and as such, they feel rejected. Catherine claims that she does not require the approval of the society or her peers because her goals in life would not be realized if she focuses on what the society expects of her.
Future Growth and Success
In order to succeed in her early adult life, Catherine needs to consider the points of view of her peers on various issues such as marriage, beliefs, and moral principles. However, her choices should be made after rationally considering various alternatives available to her. In addition, she should not despise the tenets and stipulations of the society in which she lives. At the maturity or late adulthood stage, Catherine will be able to effectively nurture her children, become a valuable member of her society, achieve her goals, and adjust to changes, both physical and psychological if she appreciates the role of the society and peers in her life and maintains autonomy in her decisions.
References
Crain, W. (2015). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. Psychology Press.
Kail, R. V., " Cavanaugh, J. C. (2018). Human development: A life-span view. Cengage Learning.
Lind, G. (2017). The Theory of Moral-Cognitive Development A Socio-Psychological Assessment. In Moral Judgments and Social Education (pp. 25-48). Routledge.
