210 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
school age. However, failure is not inevitable. Erikson was optimistic in suggesting
that people can successfully handle the crisis of any given stage even though they
were not completely successful in previous stages.
The ratio between industry and inferiority should, of course, favor industry;
but inferiority, like the other dystonic qualities, should not be avoided. As Alfred
Adler (Chapter 3) pointed out, inferiority can serve as an impetus to do one’s best.
Conversely, an oversupply of inferiority can block productive activity and stunt
one’s feelings of competence.Competence: The Basic Strength of the School Age
From the conflict of industry versus inferiority, school-age children develop the basic
strength of competence: that is, the confidence to use one’s physical and cog nitive
abilities to solve the problems that accompany school age. Competence lays the foun-
dation for “co-operative participation in productive adult life” (Erikson, 1968, p. 126).
If the struggle between industry and inferiority favors either inferiority or an
overabundance of industry, children are likely to give up and regress to an earlier stage
of development. They may become preoccupied with infantile genital and Oedipal
fantasies and spend most of their time in nonproductive play. This regression is called
inertia, the antithesis of competence and the core pathology of the school age.Adolescence
Adolescence, the period from puberty to young adulthood, is one of the most
crucial developmental stages because, by the end of this period, a person must gain
a firm sense of ego identity. Although ego identity neither begins nor ends during
adolescence, the crisis between identity and identity confusion reaches its ascen-
dance during this stage. From this crisis of identity versus identity confusion
emerges fidelity, the basic strength of adolescence.
Erikson (1982) saw adolescence as a period of social latency, just as he saw
school age as a time of sexual latency. Although adolescents are developing sexually
and cognitively, in most Western societies they are allowed to postpone lasting
commitment to an occupation, a sex partner, or an adaptive philosophy of life. They
are permitted to experiment in a variety of ways and to try out new roles and beliefs
while seeking to establish a sense of ego identity. Adolescence, then, is an adaptive
phase of personality development, a period of trial and error.Puberty
Puberty, defined as genital maturation, plays a relatively minor role in Erikson’s
concept of adolescence. For most young people, genital maturation presents no
major sexual crisis. Nevertheless, puberty is important psychologically because it
triggers expectations of adult roles yet ahead—roles that are essentially social and
can be filled only through a struggle to attain ego identity.Identity Versus Identity Confusion
The search for ego identity reaches a climax during adolescence as young people strive
to find out who they are and who they are not. With the advent of puberty, adolescents