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Title: Generativity vs Stagnation

There are several stages of the psychosocial development theory by Erick Erikson out of

which generativity vs stagnation is the seventh one. This stage marks the age of 40-65. If

success is achieved in the prior stage, then one would achieve a firm identity and strong career

with a good family structure during this stage. This stage pays attention to the social contribution

of a person through the family. Stagnation comes when generativity is not attained, which leads

to challenges and depression in middle age. Also, prior stages play a major part in the success of

this stage.

Raising a child is not easy, but we want our child to contribute positively to society in the

form of a good person. This is linked with the stage of generativity, where an individual wishes

to contribute the same to society (Batra, 2013). We as parents can mentor our children and make

them learn from our life mistakes so that they can avoid them in their life.

We feel a sense of pride when we are successfully raising the family. This pride is kind

of key achievement for us that comes from our potential to raise the family. This feeling mentor

other people and motivates them to raise their families. Generativity is achieved through the

feeling of need, needed by the children for their guidance, by the community to give talents, and

by the job to reach objectives. During this stage, we have different aims as we are looking for

retirement after succeeding in a career.

Similar to the previous stages, the occurrence of stagnation puts a negative impact on the

next stage of progression. Failure of the previous stage, career issues, job misplay, and divorce

are some causes behind the occurrence of stagnation. We feel to be cut off from the world if not

being able to contribute to society (Cherry, 2022). Losing of partner through divorce or losing of
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job introduce a crisis in life and that is the reason these crises are termed a mid-age crisis. This is

not the only reason for us to begin a new journey of life, but also it leads us to find our identity in

the new life which may be in the form of a relationship or job.

Depression is one of the major causes of stagnation which is developed due to failures

faced in life in the form of jobs or relationships which has led to the loss of identity. Depression

occurs when we fail to make goals in life in the form of a career or relationships (Cherry, 2022).

The result of depression in the previous stages is also the cause of stagnation in this stage

because depression leads to failure. Since there are many causes behind the occurrence of

stagnation in this stage, it is essential to achieve success in the previous stages to avoid

stagnation.

Success is achievable in every stage, but if we face failure during it, there are several

ways to defeat failure and achieve the goals. The stages of psychosocial development are phases

of the lifecycle that are quite dependent on each other. The success of these stages lies in the way

we handle them.
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References
Batra, S. (2013). The Psychosocial Development of Children: Implications for Education and

Society — Erik Erikson in Context. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 10(2), 249–278.

Cherry, K. (2022, February 15). Generativity vs. Stagnation in Psychosocial Development.

Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/generativity-versus-stagnation-2795734.