Psychodynamic Theories

Psychodynamic theories generally teach that, personality is characterized by a dynamic struggle. Need for superiority come into conflict with laws, social rules and moral codes (Rathus, 1990). The laws and social rules become internalized after which we make them part of ourselves. Consequently, the dynamic struggle becomes a clashing of opposing inner forces and at a given moment our behaviour, as well as our thoughts and emotions represents the outcome of these inner contests (Rathus, 1990). There are many proponents of psychodynamic theory. However, in this study, the views of Erikson (1963) on psychosocial stages of development were employed.

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Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

Erikson (1963) in his theory of personality development asserts that social relationships are crucial determinants of personality. His theory is based on eight stages as illustrated below which he calls psychosocial stages of life.

Stage of life Approximate age Step toward stable

personality

Step toward

Unstable personality

1. Birth -2yrs Trust Mistrust

2. 2-3 Autonomy Shame and doubt

3. 4-5 Initiative Guilt

4. 6-11 Industry Inferiority

5. 12-18 Identity Role confusion

6. Early adulthood Intimacy Isolation

7. Middle age Generativity Self-absorption

8. Late adulthood Integrity Despair

Each stage presents conflicts that require individuals to modify their personalities and adjust to their social environment. How they negotiate each stage determines whether they will have a stable or unstable personality development. Parents’ attitudes and actions as well as other people and environmental factors influence the ways by which individuals resolve these conflicts. To Erikson cited in Schultz and Schultz (2009), personality development is an ongoing process throughout life. He argues that ego whose role is to preserve identity has four distinct aspects: individuality (a conscious sense of uniqueness and existence as separate distinct entity), wholeness and synthesis (a sense of inner wholeness and indivisibility resulting from unconscious synthesizing operations of the ego), sameness and continuity (a feeling that one’s life has

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consistency and is headed for meaningful direction) and social solidarity (a sense of inner solidarity with ideals and values of some group, feeling of social support and validation. Erikson asserted that firm identity requires that the inner sense of sameness and continuity be meaningful to significant others and correspond to their perceptions and expectations. This ensures recognition from people who are important to the individual. If there are contradictions in the society, the child feels lost. However, the adjustments that people make at each stage are not irreversible, though they influence the person’s overall personality.

The study focused on the fifth and sixth stages since it is within these that the boy- child under study falls in, that is, 15-19 years. The fifth stage, called Identity versus Role Confusion/Diffusion occurs when individuals are between 12 to18 years of age. During this stage, people develop healthy personal identities on the positive side or role confusion on the negative side (Santrock, 2007). Parental influence is indirect though it depends on the feeling of trust, autonomy, initiative and industry that they have instilled in their children. Adolescents bring together all their thoughts about themselves in their various capacities. If they feel good about themselves, they develop a positive self-identity. In relation to this study a sense of inner solidarity that would enhance positive self-concept would be that which corresponds to the societal expectations. As highlighted in the introductory sections, boys have societal designed roles that are masculine which they acquire from the people of their gender as they grow up. Boys need to feel that they have male figures within their immediate families whom they can identify with in line with socially expected roles and a society that cares for them. If they lack the care givers and the models they can identify with, they get confused. They also cannot form a mental image of their own “special” self

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thus they may become overly concerned with their identity in the eyes of others (Sokoi, 2009); they may become what others want them to be because they are not sure what kind of person they want to be themselves. Some may adopt an identity set up by their families while others may adopt an identity opposite to these expectations such as a ‘loser’ or ‘delinquent’ because any identity may be better than no identity at all. However, failure to establish a healthy personal identity during adolescence does not guarantee failure forever.

This theory implies that behaviour adaptation is dependent on parenting and the social environment of a child from as early as infancy. However, different from the social learning theory, the emphasis is on support and validation: consistency in the value systems so that the children can get proper direction free from contradictions that would bring confusion in conceptualization of desired behaviour. Capaldi and Petterson (1991) contend that though a child’s parents and family are important influences, they can either destroy or ensure a happy future. But the families are also embedded in the larger society hence conceptualization of parenting from the larger social environment is viewed as critical in achieving a firm identity.

Summary of the Theoretical Framework

The two theories, that is, social learning and psychodynamic theory (Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages) were found appropriate in shedding light on the areas of concern in this study. Individually, the social learning theory by Bandura (1977) sheds light on different modalities through which children learn. Significantly, Erikson’s theory (1963) of psychosocial stages explains the development of identity and the motivating factors towards certain types of behaviour among the developing children. For

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instance, according to Erikson’s psychosocial stages, lack of proper negotiation from one stage to another may lead to feelings of deprivation of identity. The state of identity crisis or role confusion involves the converse of firm identity: feelings of inner fragmentation, uncertainty about where life is headed and inability to gain support provided by satisfactory social role or vocation. Collectively, the two theories explain how individuals acquire behaviour from their social environment and from parenting skills employed on them. The theories further explain what is likely to happen when the social environment does not enhance the socially desired behaviour. In essence the theories emphasize the importance of a society in shaping behaviour. The theories therefore provide important insights that provided a focus for this study since they illuminated on possible factors accountable for the maladaptive behaviour of the boy-child in the contemporary Kenyan society.