Chapter 7 Erikson: Post-Freudian Theory 223relationships in emerging adulthood? Their longitudinal study tested Erikson’s assumption
of this fixed developmental ordering to fill two gaps in the research literature:
a) only cross-sectional and short-term studies had been done to date on these two
Eriksonian stages, so a truly developmental conclusion could not yet be drawn; and
b) several more recent frameworks on adolescent development have questioned whether
identity does indeed precede intimacy as Erikson’s theory postulates.
There are indications of a dramatically altered developmental context in recent
decades, which call into question the appropriateness of Erikson’s stage ordering in
adolescence and emerging adulthood. For example, adolescents today can postpone
adult commitments and explore a broad array of options well into college and beyond
(Luyckx, Goossens, Soenens, & Beyers, 2006), suggesting that identity solidification
is protracted. Furthermore, some have suggested that intimate sexual relationships
increasingly develop during adolescence, perhaps preceding and even interrupting
identity development (consider the teen pregnancy rate) (e.g., Brown, 1999).
Beyers and Seiffge-Krenke (2010) examined data from 52 females and
41 males in a 10-year longitudinal study in Germany to assess whether Erikson’s
developmental ordering of identity first, then intimacy, still holds true. Their par-
ticipants were interviewed when they were 15 years old and then again when they
were 25 years old. They found evidence for a strong developmental progression
from identity to intimacy, with increasing ego development from ages 15 to 25,
from more conforming at age 15 to more self-aware and individualistic at age 25.
Secondly, they found no indication of postponement of identity as suggested by
others, in the young adults. And finally, most in the sample had intimate partner-
ships at age 25, and their levels of intimacy were strongly predicted by ego iden-
tity development at age 15. So they concluded that, even in the new millennium,
ego development in adolescence strongly predicts intimacy in young adulthood.
Erik Erikson himself once wrote, “the condition of twoness is that one must
first become oneself” (1982, p. 101). Beyers and Sieffge-Krenke (2010) appear to
have demonstrated the truth of that rather pithy statement about healthy personality
in emerging adulthood. To the extent we become comfortable with ourselves, we
are likely to enjoy higher quality intimacy with a partner.
Critique of Erikson
Erikson built his theory largely on ethical principles and not necessarily on scien-
tific data. He came to psychology from art and acknowledged that he saw the world
more through the eyes of an artist than through those of a scientist. He once wrote
that he had nothing to offer except “a way of looking at things” (Erikson, 1963,
p. 403). His books are admittedly subjective and personal, which undoubtedly adds
to their appeal. Nevertheless, Erikson’s theory must be judged by the standards of
science, not ethics or art.
The first criterion of a useful theory is its ability to generate research, and
by this standard, we rate Erikson’s theory somewhat higher than average. For
example, the topic of ego identity alone has generated several hundred studies, and
other aspects of Erikson’s developmental stages, such as intimacy versus isolation
(Gold & Rogers, 1995) and generativity (Arnett, 2000; Pratt, Norris, Arnold, &
Filyer, 1999), as well as the entire life cycle (Whitbourne, Zuschlag, Elliot, &
Waterman, 1992), have stimulated active empirical investigations.