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The Psychosocial Development of Children and Adolescents in the People's Republic of China: An Eriksonian Approach
Author(s) -
Wang Wei,
Viney Linda L.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/002075997400827
Subject(s) - psychosocial , erikson's stages of psychosocial development , psychology , maturity (psychological) , developmental psychology , china , identity (music) , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , physics , political science , acoustics , law
This exploratory study of Eriksonian psychosocial development in school‐aged children in the People's Republic of China tested the feasibility of Erikson's model with 360 students from 6 primary and high schools. The 16 Content Analysis Scales of Psychosocial Maturity were applied to the transcribed verbalizations from an open‐ended interview and the scale scores were analyzed with two factors, school grade and gender. The grade‐related results indicated that the development of psychosocial maturity among these school students showed some consistency with Erikson's model in terms of stage‐relevant experience. However, resolution of industry versus inferiority was the main focus of all the research participants. Identity versus identity diffusion was emerging among high school students. A high level of trust existed for all school grades, but grade 1 consistently scored higher than other grades for all aspects of psychosocial maturity. No significant gender difference was found for any stage experience. The implications for the findings and the limitations of the methodology have been discussed.