His model of personality development is still widely studied (e.g., McAdams et al., 1997, Miner-Rubino et al., 2004, Stewart et al., 2001), partly because of his insights into the later stages of adult development: middle and old age. Of course, many people achieve a balance somewhere between these two poles Erikson referred to as “despair” and “ego integrity.” This study is aimed at gaining insight into the early part of this developmental stage, ego integrity versus despair, during late midlife.Įrikson broke with many of his contemporaries by proposing that personality development extended beyond childhood into young adulthood, and throughout midlife and old age (Erikson, 1963, Erikson et al., 1986). Others, however, accept their pasts as unchangeable and deepen their sense of connection with other, similarly imperfect people as they navigate the life review, they develop a deep level of self acceptance. As a result, these people become depressed and even bitter, feeling they have led meaningless lives. Some who engage in the process become obsessed with past difficulties-often things they regret-and ruminate about what went “wrong” with their lives. At this point he suggests people are more focused on reviewing their past than they were earlier in life, and their developmental task is to come to terms with the lives they have lived and the people they have become. This process of confronting and processing difficult life experiences and restructuring one’s self and world understanding has been demonstrated to occur for many throughout their adult life (Adler et al., 2007, Helson and Roberts, 1994, King and Smith, 2004, Stewart and Vandewater, 1999, Thorne, 2000).Īccording to Erik Erikson (Erikson, Erikson, & Kivnick, 1986), the tendency to review and restructure one’s past becomes most prominent in old age. King (2001) reviews evidence that only by confronting difficult life experiences and integrating them into a more complex self-understanding do adults develop and mature. Some psychologists maintain that only from these hard times can we find the good in life, or achieve meaningful personality development. Everyone faces difficult and challenging situations in the course of a lifetime.
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