Ida seemed to be an average 15 year-old girl who lives at home with her mother and father, Annie and Lecon and her sister, Pauline. Ida attended school, where she was seen as an intelligent girl by the teachers, but constantly attempted to act like she was not as smart as she was. When her mother became ill, the family took over her mother’s work responsibilities and also Annie’s care until it became too much for her father. Ida was ab

Rayona seems to have done well through the first four stages of Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development. She received the proper care and attention as an infant to have her needs met. She learned how to begin to care for herself and learned the rules of the house. She seemed to be an average child. Between the ages of 3-6 years old, Rayona began to clean the apartment. She did not have many friends due to the fact that they kept moving to different residences. Rayona did well in school and was very self-sufficient. She learned to rely on herself to take care of her own needs.

Ida, at 15 years old, seemed as if she was developmentally at the proper place with regard to Erikson’s eight psychosocial stages of development. Trust versus mistrust is the first stage, while ranges from birth to 1 years old. In order to gain trust, an infant must received the proper nurturing, attention, food, feelings of safety, and everything else that would fulfill their needs (Sroufe, Cooper & DeHart, 1992). Although, all that is mentioned in the story was that Ida was very naïve, she seemed to be a very trusting girl and became very attached to Clara right away. She seemed to have confidence in her family and Clara that they would do what was best for her and look out for her.

The next stage is generativity versus stagnation, which occurs during adulthood. “Generativity includes responsibilities such as raising and caring for children and productivity in one’s work. Adults who cannot perform these tasks become stagnant (Sroufe, Cooper, & DeHart).” When there is crisis in generativity, it risks “personal investment in people beyond the immediate family. Self-absorption equals stagnation (Schriver, 2001).” Ida has had enough of other people. She was not going to venture out and trust anyone else. Ida was again forced into stagnation by having to be self-absorbed. Ida’s self-absorption was out of necessity. She could not invest in other people. She had never learned to do this, and what she had learned was destroyed by the betrayal in her family.

Once her mother became ill, Ida no longer had the mother she was used to having. The roles in the family became reversed where the children became the caregivers and the parents became the recipients. Ida’s parents allowed her to make decisions within the family that she was much to young to make. The parents should have protected their child; instead the boundaries within the family were breached. The children were brought into the problems within the marriage and became the solution to the problem. Ida realizes at the age of 57 years old that her life could have and should have been different.

Some topics in this essay:
Cooper DeHart, Strong Devault, Cooper Dehart, Aunt Ida, Clara Lecon, Dayton Christine, Rayona’s Rayona, Elgin Christine, Pauline Ida, DeHart” Ida, sroufe cooper, aunt ida, cooper dehart, sroufe cooper dehart, cooper dehart 1992, dehart 1992, versus isolation, loss parents, versus role, family hero, strong devault, mother christine, intimacy versus isolation, devault 1992” christine, sroufe cooper dehart”,