Middle Childhood Psychosocial Analysis

Middle childhood is an essential developmental period for children that shapes and impacts their transition from a child to an adolescent and so forth. During middle childhood, children experience many changes that influence their role in society and more importantly, who they are as individuals. Furthermore, middle childhood is a growth stage that includes biological, cognitive, and psychosocial developments and adaptations children worldwide undergo. With this in mind, Erik Erikson developed an extended sequence of eight stages of psychosocial developments for individuals to undergo throughout life. According to Erikson’s stages, middle childhood is a stage that is comprised of conflicts regarding a child’s belief in their competence (industry vs. inferiority). Consistent with Erikson’s industry vs. inferiority theory, Eccles (1999) theorized that one of the many factors for a decrease in self-esteem during middle childhood is the action of progressively receiving criticism that identifies their failures as they age. As a child matures, so does their self-concept; and along with a child’s self-concept that intensely matures, comes with a reflection on their ability to succeed or fail at certain activities in their life, such as the

When I was about nine years old, I enter in an art drawing contest at my school, and I was so proud of my sketched work. At that point, I showed my mother my artwork; she then proceeded to criticize my artwork and accused me of cheating or copying my design. I, of course, did not. Afterward, when she saw that I was emotionally upset and wounded, she attempted to double back and said something along the lines that it looked “too good” or “too perfect” for a fourth-grader. However, the damage was done. My mother’s lack of faith and trust in my artistic abilities discourage me to the point where I ripped up my sketch and dropped out of the