HSCO 502 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Developmental Analysis-Newton_SUMMARIES_2017.pdf

Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 1

Developmental Analysis

Liberty University

HSCO 502

Dr. Lawrence Katz

August 21, 2016

DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 2

effects involved in human development over a lifespan. This paper shows a reflection of Erik

Erikson’s eight psychosocial stages of development pertained to the author’s personal life.

Erikson’s theory, which is woven through this paper, places an emphasis on influences of human

personality including social and historical aspects. The environment and attachments which an

individual is exposed to can affect how he sees himself. The author’s response to each pivotal

developmental milestone provides the basis for the person he has become today. The journey of

his life is unveiled and held up to developmental stages in relation to human growth.

DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 3

Introduction

gathering as much developmental information as I could from the prenatal stage until adulthood,

I have come to realize there are many significant events, people, environmental factors, spiritual

occurrences, and challenges that have worked together to form husband, dad, sergeant Joshua D.

Newton. Various historical and influential factors have been deeply woven into the core of my

existence bringing me to what I have become today. Through reflection, prayer, gaining

perspectives from my parents, and doing a personal assessment, this paper embarks on the

journey of my own personal human development story. One particular theory, influenced by Erik

Ericson attempts to define the stages of development in eight developmental tasks (Broderick &

Blewitt, 2015). In each stage, a particular crisis is presented and depending on how the person

responds to each event, determines whether moving forward would be positive or negative. Erik

I was born into this world with no delay or complications. I was born on my due date, due

to cesarean, and weighed in at 7lb 7oz. I was bottle fed throughout infancy, and my mother

informed me that I met each developmental milestone with ease. Throughout her pregnancy, she

experienced what she stated was “normal” stress and anxiety being her first pregnancy. My

parents waited until both were comfortable in their respected careers, mother (registered nurse)

and dad (sheriff’s deputy) to wed and start a family. With working long hours and not knowing

what hours my dad would be home slightly elevated my mother’s stress and anxiety levels just

above her “normal” level. It has been noted through research that anxiety and stress during

pregnancy can produce negative effects cognitively on the child. Psychiatric disorders including

depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems, can be influenced by prenatal exposure to stress

toward others and oneself promotes security (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). My parents and my

paternal grandpa were my attachment figures as a child. Both parents grew up in Christian homes

with loving parents. My mother was a loving, overprotective parent in the beginning stages of

my life. My dad, the strict but fair one, was who I wanted to be. I would tend to lean more

towards my dad’s parents and grew close with my grandpa even to this day. My mother was

responsive to my basic needs, however, being a full time RN and mother her response were not

always immediate and regular to my basic needs and cries forming an initial sense of trust and

security as Bowlby and Erikson proposed to be important (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).

Additionally, my mother described me as a relatively easy baby, in that I was normal in my

rhythms and had consistent, regular sleep patterns (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).

In early childhood, between 3-6 years, Erikson’s third stage of initiative and guilt was in

motion. My sister was born in August prior to my third birthday. Now having to “share” my

parents, grandparents and what ever else, my world had changed. Entering into the preschool

period I was developing at the average rate of a normal 3 year old. Outside of school I spent little

time playing outside like most kids; I began to progress with the understanding of self-concept,

which Feldman (2014) states is when you begin to recognize and express your likes and dislikes

roots of chaos would soon seep into the home and eventually the floodgates would open. Around

the late-eighties, my family decided to move a few hours away from both sets of grandparents.

My mother quickly was hired as a RN and dad took necessary jobs to put food on the table, pay

the bills, and secure a life for our family. The time he spent with his children increased and he

became actively involved in raising my sister and me and showed up for the various events and

activities and even coached my t-ball and coach-pitch baseball teams. My parents’ relationship

was more of a forced effort in which they both admit to masking their way through the journey

of marriage and children.

The parenting style I experienced throughout childhood was a mix between authoritative

and authoritarian with a high level of demandingness. I reaped the side effects as Broderick and

Blewitt (2015) described from these two styles in that I did not experience a healthy emotional

atmosphere in the home, and I had incredible internal insecurities tied with emotional issues. I

wore those insecurities like a tight garment. Though my mother initially expressed love in my

beginning years, and my father was actively present in my childhood, deep down I could sense

that something was not right which instilled fear and insecurity as far back as I can remember.

Negative reinforcement was a pattern that began at a young age. My mother would threaten

consequences, of letting my dad know what I had done, when I would misbehave but would

My mother said something differently occurred in me after fourth grade. This took place

during the fourth play age stage, of industry versus inferiority, which occurs between age six and

twelve years (Feist & Feist, 2009). Although physically I developed at the average pace of a

child in the middle childhood period; but it was in my middle childhood period where I begin to

experience learning difficulties. I was not as good of a reader as most children my age, and my

grades were effected majorly because of that. Feldman (2014) describes a learning disability as a

DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 7

Rescorla (2003) experience their first reading disability in the middle childhood period

(Andrusik, K., Ritchey, K., Schatschneider, C., Silverman, R., Speece, D., & Walker, C. 2010,

At nine years old, my parents’ marriage had come to an end and my sister and I were in

the middle. I knew it was not because of my sister or me but because of my dad’s temper. He was

loving and never abused any of us but would yell constantly. I still feel this was due to having a

short honeymoon or marriage prior to having children. I was beginning fifth grade in the fall and

knew some classmates whose parents were divorced so I thought I knew how to handle my

situation based off of their previous actions. My mother married Donnie, the winter of that year

and forced my sister and I to move to Iowa away from all I knew in Oklahoma.

from Oklahoma to Iowa, changing schools, relearning new classmates’ names, I began using a

mask at this stage and attempted to conform my behaviors and attitudes to others so that they

would like me. I was what Selman describes as “self-transforming,” in that I would give in and

do anything to avoid conflict, with a personality that was conforming to what I thought my

friends wanted (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). I began to resent my mother for taking me away

from my life in Oklahoma so she could be with her new husband and did not want anything to do

with her. Though, I did not feel as if I fit in with friends, I began on a desperate mission to find

them and be accepted. I would often mold my actions toward what I thought would gain

acceptance by my peers. I did anything and everything possible to avoid disagreements and

conflict with fellow peers. With hormonal changes beginning to take place, I did not have a

healthy sense of my own identity and felt as if I lacked the tools to deal with life, creating a sense

of inadequacy (Batra, 2013)

In later stages of early adolescence, I began acting out, getting into to trouble to try and

she reminded me of Matthew 18: 21-22 NIV, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how

many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? “Jesus

answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Studies have shown that these

behaviors could stem from internalizing anxiety result once depression has set in (Marsden &

Chowdry, 2009). The World Health Organization states that obsessive-compulsive disorder

(OCD) is a common psychiatric illness that affects children as young as six years old as well as

DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 9

adolescents, and is rated in the top twenty debilitating diseases (Marsden & Chowdry, 2009).

Approximately one out of one hundred children experience these symptoms (Marsden &

Chowdry, 2009). My memory of the thoughts that came were that they were repetitive and

intrusive and created feelings of discomfort and incompleteness. After speaking with my mother,

in doing this paper, I learned that she too had the same symptoms throughout her life due to her

dad being very strict. Mine would eventually dissipate over the years.

In the spiritual realm, I had a very diluted idea of God. My parents dropped me off at a

Him.

The adolescence stage of my life was the primary stepping-stone to what would catapult

me into emerging adulthood with some healthy tools available in coping with life. In Erikson’s

identity versus identity confusion stage, it would be apparent that the latter was reigning in my

life (Feist & Feist, 2009). My friends always thought my parents were awesome because I could

basically do whatever I wanted with little to no boundaries. Deep down, I felt as if they did not

care about me. Throughout junior high, my grades were low only due to not turning in

homework assignments, I had them done, all correct, just never felt like turning them in.

Throughout my high school years, I drifted progressively and rapidly from feeling alienated to