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Identity vs. Role Confusion
Nancy graduates from high school from a small town in Northern Wisconsin. Her father worked at a saw mill his whole adult life and her mother was a stay at wife with seven children. Nancy knew that she wanted more from life and wanted to go out and experience the world. In Erickson's fifth stage and in response to role confusion and identity crisis, Nancy experiments with different lifestyles to find out who she really is. -
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Once out in the world Nancy meets a young man that she falls in love with. They have two children together and settle down. This is Erickson's 6th stage, the crisis between intimacy vs. isolation is to explore and to commit yourself to a person hopefully with the goal of having a long term commitment to each other. Nancy is showing that she does not want to be alone and isolated, she wants to be in a healthy, loving relationship. -
Generativity vs. Stagnation
In Erickson's seventh stage, Nancy moves out of Wisconsin with her family to Oregon and becomes a nurse. She develops a career that she likes helping people. She continues to raise her two children and becomes involved with her church. She becomes an active, productive member of society. -
Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Erickson's eight stage, ego integrity vs. despair, Nancy looks back on her and what she has accomplished. She now has three grandchildren who all live within a few miles of her home so she is able to help watch them. She continues to work part time as a nurse because she wants to continue giving back to society. The crisis is to avoid feeling despair and to continue living a full life.
