Submission Field : 15-25

My first person I interviewed was a seventeen year old girl. The questions I asked involved how she felt emotionally as she’s grown up, and relationships in the past. The stage she’s in is in between Identity vs. Role Confusion and Intimacy vs. Isolation. These are the teen / young adult stages that focus on gaining self-image and integrating into personal and social relationships. Problems that arise in this age group deal with staying true to who you are, failure, sense of self, and relationships. In this day and time, finding your true self is hard. Making relationships in this stage of life is what helps to make them later on, whether it’s a friendly relationship or an intimate, loving relationship. Achieving this leads to solid relationships, while failure results in loneliness and solitude.

The girl I interviewed has had a hard time figuring out who she was over the past few years. Ever since we were younger, I can remember her always being a little different, and all the way up into high school. About two years ago, ( at fifteen ) she started hanging out with random people, dressing differently, and falling into peer pressure. She completely changed the person she was. Eventually, she got her self out of that crowd, and began living for herself. All it took was the persuasion of other people and the confusion of her well being. She would start to date guys who were no good for her, and completely lowering her standards. She suffered from role confusion. Erikson’s stages of development are actually true to what they say about finding out who you really are and who you want to have relationships with. Sometimes people get caught up in the ‘world’ and not in reality, and especially in the teen / young adult stage.

35-55

I interviewed a woman in the age group of 35 – 55. I would tell how old she is but you never ask a woman her age.. In this stage of Erikson’s ‘break down of life’, this is when you’re an adult. This is the stage where ones life is revolved around their marriage, children, job, or community. Looking back on the relationships you had in the young adult stage before this, it helps to have made the relationships you have now- it helps you learn a lot of lessons. In this stage, adults start to seek serious relationships because they’re looking to get married and start a family. If this doesn’t happen, one will begin to isolate and distance themselves from others.

 My second interviewee is a mother of one child and a wife. I picked her for my interview because she has been through a lot in the past few years, and it would help to give light to the ‘behind closed doors’ marriage. Everything hasn’t worked out in her way. After having a daughter that’s eighteen, you would think that a marriage wouldn’t fail if it hasn’t yet. Not in this case. After watching their beautiful daughter grow and leave to go to college, she later found out that her husband had been cheating on her for months.. With one of her best friends. Her life was focused on her husband and daughter, and having the ‘all American’ home life. The news of all of this took a very hard toll on her, and kick started her mid life crisis, which is also said to happen in this age range. It’s proven that if one doesn’t have the life they imagined, that they will be very distant and alone. Erikson was right when he thought when situations like this arise, it’s hard for people to find new meanings and purposes for life.

65& up

                My last interviewee in the Ego Integrity vs. Despair stage was 52 years old. This is the stage in life that comes after the main events in life (marriage, children, etc.). At this stage, older adults and the elderly begin to look back on their life and want to feel a sense of success and fulfillment. It brings about the feeling of wisdom, and possibly regret. It’s also when people start to reflect on their lives. The feelings that happen in this stage could go either way. Either the person is happy with what has happened in their lives, or they have some regret. In some cases, adults reach this stage and become scared of death and wondering if they actually had a purpose in life.

            I interviewed a 52 year old mother who isn’t quite at the reflection point, but almost. She’s been married for 30 years, had two children, and watched one of them go off to college and one that’s about to graduate high school. At this point, she’s about to have another ‘mid life crisis’ because her children will be leaving her. Looking back and watching her children grow into what they’ve become makes her realize how fast time has flown by. After asking the questions I had prepared, she had no regret in life, and was happy with the choices she’s made through the years. She still has a steady, well paying job and has learned a lot of lessons about life. When I grow to that age, I hope to look back on my life the same as her. Feeling regret and dwelling on the fact that I missed a good opportunity isn’t something that I would want to deal with. Being content with yourself and your life goes hand in hand with your physical well-being.