In the modern civilized world there are no such people who at least once in their life have not encountered the concept of an age crisis. Let's consider this issue in more detail in our article.
The crisis of a person's psychological development is most often defined as a transitional period in the formation of a personal portrait, it is like a leap from one stage of personal development to another.
What is a crisis in psychology?
Despite the diversity and variety of forms of expression, all age crises have similar psychological and social features.
I.e. Contrary to popular belief, the concept of "crisis" is not at all synonymous with the concept of "problem". He is not something out of the ordinary. This is not painful at all.
In the works of the famous psychologist L. S. Vygotsky attaches great importance to the study of the critical ages of children. He viewed them as a natural and inalienable process.child development, which is just the same alternation of periods of stability and periods of crisis. He viewed the crisis as a conflict of contradictions between the already existing social, physical, psychological and cultural functions of a person and what a person faces again.
Thus, the age crisis is a kind of contradiction between existing characteristics and newly acquired ones. These contradictions can relate to anything: motivational qualities and abilities, self-knowledge, introspection, etc. In each critical period of human development, a person undergoes a restructuring of social development.
Duration of crises
The duration of age-related crises is short, normally it takes several months to find harmony between the old and the new, in special cases - a year or more. It is impossible to single out clearly the day and even the month of the beginning and end of the crisis period. The boundaries are blurred and are often not recognized either by the person himself or by his environment. The peak itself usually occurs in the middle of the critical period. At this time, close people may notice a change in behavior, such features as some aggressiveness, a drop in efficiency, loss of interest, conflicts with others appear. The picture of behavior and the inner world of a person acquires negative features. There are constant contradictions between needs and possibilities, between increased physical abilities and the desire to realize them, between spiritual needs and the possibilities of their realization. All these new features and transformations of the inner world often havetransient nature, at the end of the crisis they are transformed into something more harmonized and close to reality.
Symptoms of crises
All crisis periods have similar symptoms and follow the general laws of development.
Despite the natural occurrence of crises of age development, one should not underestimate their importance and severity, because the age crisis is a rather difficult period in the life of both a child and an adult. During such periods, a kind of personality breakdown occurs, which causes a lot of difficulties and inconveniences to a person both in the inner world and in society. There is a certain prerequisite that determines how harmoniously a person will survive the crisis period: by the time of the next critical age, it is desirable that all the features of the psychological and physiological neoplasms of the previous period of development be clearly formed. At the stage of the age crisis, not only psychological, but also biological changes occur in the body. Such changes, as we noted above, are a source of difficulties in interaction and mutual understanding both with others and with oneself, up to the complete loss of it. It is for this reason that such critical age periods are called pre-pathology, i.e. they are within the normal range, but teetering on the verge of going beyond it.
Based on elementary knowledge of the characteristics of the physical and social development of a person, it is possible to determine the age at which a personfaced with contradictions in himself and in society. You can also analyze and work out the maximum possible number of options for resolving or at least amortizing emerging conflicts.
Classification of crisis periods
So, let's look at the main crises of age development.
Crisis of the newborn. The moment of birth is a very stressful situation for a child. There is a complete change of habitat, the human body passes from the environment of intrauterine existence to the heterogeneous environment of the surrounding world, there is a separation from the mother. This is the first major psychological stress, even trauma, caused by the destruction of the physical connection with the mother. The transition to a new quality - an autonomous organism - is abrupt and unexpected. If before birth the child remained, as it were, a part of the mother's organism, now it is an absolutely separate, psychologically and physically, personality. Due to the possible protracted and complex birth process, age-related crises in children can be complicated.
One year crisis
The essence of this crisis lies in the emerging contradictions between the already formed physical and mental skills, skills and capabilities of a growing person, characterizing him as an autonomous organism, and the still strong need for close communication, interaction with the mother. In the passage of this critical period, a huge role is played by the first steps of the child's socialization, for example, his interaction with close relatives, brothers, sisters, grandmothers. The age crisis of 1 year is not always.
Great value inpositive resolution also has an emotional connection with the mother and her attitude towards the child. This is the first guide of a child in an unfamiliar world. And the result of the child entering a new stage of development depends on how much she feels the behavior of the child and interacts with him competently.
The result of resolving the crisis of one year is usually such a behavioral development of the child, which allows him to achieve an elementary semantic understanding of his actions. This is the so-called need response. This experience is gained through experience through daily interactions with nearby adults.
Three-Year Crisis
What other age-related crises do children have?
They don't have clear boundaries. Three years is an approximate age. This crisis overtakes someone at the age of 2, someone - at 3, 5.
This is the age of "Me myself". At this stage, there is a sharp and active awareness of one's Self as a separate person, autonomous not only from the family, but also from others, peers, relatives, etc. There is a development of a sharp aggravation of personal and social contradictions. Independent objective action is still poorly formed, but linguistic and behavioral-mental development is undergoing a huge leap forward. Roughly speaking, the child wants to do a lot on his own, but is not yet capable of either self-discipline or self-control, and does not possess many skills of independent activity. The famous author of psychological research D. B. Elkonin calls this agea crisis in children in psychology, a crisis of social relations, as a result of which there is an active isolation of the child from the microsociety. The inner self of the child is actively formed, while there is no conscious understanding of the social structure of role relations in the family and microsociety. The child does not understand the complexity of the structure of social actions, objective everyday actions. In a word, the logic of the surrounding world order of the child is visible, but incomprehensible. At the same time, the activity of one's ego is growing, the social role of which is also still incomprehensible to the child. The crisis of three years helps to survive the active involvement of the child in role-playing games, using simple examples of which it is easier for him to realize the role-playing behavior of various participants in the surrounding society. For example, playing mother-daughter games, shopping, doctor's appointments.
Crisis 6-7 years
The crisis of 7 years in developmental psychology is described as the brightest.
Characterized by the contradiction between the social need to learn (and not necessarily a learning activity as such) and the desire to enter into life with its real social relations. There is personal uncertainty, anxiety, which is already caused by sufficient experience of self-control and self-management of one's own behavior, but in the conditions of game activity.
According to age psychology, the crisis of 7 years in a child can proceed in different ways.
At this stage, the social formation of the personality is already underway, the child learns to build relationships with peers, teachers, parents and other members of the microsociety. Parental mediation is increasingly being reduced to a minimum. The crisis tends to be resolved as soon as the establishment and awareness of personal characteristics in relationships with others at school, at home, in the yard. This marks the beginning of the formation of personal socialization of a growing person. Parents should be able to survive the age crisis of children 7 years old.
Adolescence crisis
If earlier age crises had fairly clear boundaries, varying within a year, then at this stage everything is more than individual. 11-12 - 14-15 years on average. It can be fast, it can be slow. The boundaries of this crisis are the most blurred, it can be both earlier and later, and proceed both faster and slower.
All these age variations of adolescent crisis periods depend on the level and pace of physical and psychological development of each teenager. At this stage of development, a hormonal surge occurs - a complete hormonal and endocrine restructuring of the body. As a result of this evolution of the organism, it becomes difficult for a teenager to realize and cope with his emotional and volitional spheres in the conditions of rather strict socio-cultural requirements for the personality of a teenager-school student, according to this age. The system of social relations becomes more complex, self-consciousness and reflection processes are activated. Against the background of a hormonal surge, all this forms a symbiosis of complex psychological reactions in the mind of a growing person.
This is also a very strong age identity crisis.
At this age there is an activethe formation and awareness of gender, this is the so-called psychological sex. All the growing social needs of adolescents are realized in a wide variety of social activities aimed at developing and updating personal, creative, psychological needs and abilities of the individual.
A significant role here is played by the organization of the collective activity of adolescents, the involvement of children in participation in various institutions of social organization, the actualization of abilities, activities aimed at developing creative abilities, the collective organization of adolescent activity, the organization of creative activity, artistic creativity, sportsmanship, development and realization of musical talents.
It is the correct organization of social pedagogical activity that is of great importance for the successful resolution of adolescent crises
Let's consider other age-related crises in psychology.
Crisis of early adolescence
This type of crisis is the result of the transition from childhood to adulthood, a person is immersed in the world of real social relationships. An active search for his place in life and society begins. This is the well-known “search for yourself.”
It is multifaceted and includes the choice of professional activity, the formation of a person's social maturation. This is a difficult period.
A successful outcome of the crisis involves the introduction of the subject of the crisis into social institutions, there is a conscious perception of socio-cultural, moral, spiritu althe norms of society. There is a formation of personal priorities of one's own development.
If something goes wrong in the passage of this crisis stage, then the search for one's own personality is delayed and takes a dead end development. There is no professional self-determination, there are no priorities for personal development. This stumbles upon the fact that a person does not receive a positive response from society either. There are no opportunities for education, the implementation of skills and abilities in the field of a potential profession.
Thus, at this stage, a positive experience of social and personal self-affirmation is very important.
Interpersonal Crisis
It is at this age stage (20-23 years) that the beginning of family or near-family life often occurs, the formation of the first serious relationship.
Early youth is characterized by the desire to organize one's own life, streamline one's lifestyle, find a partner, start a real adult professional activity, and strive for intimate and friendly relations with other people. Age crisis 7 years of family life is still far ahead.
The psychological content of this stage of age development suggests a readiness for such connections. But the conscious avoidance of contacts that require intimacy often leads to isolation and loneliness of a young person. Instead of developing and realizing oneself in harmonious relationships, there may be a desire not to let anyone else into one’s world, a kind of lengthening of the distance withthe opposite sex and people who are potentially open to friendships.
This can cause psychopathy, pathological conditions that do not allow a person to fully adapt in society.
There are other features of age crises.
Crisis of social maturity
This is the age of 30-35 years old. There is an assessment of life roles: in family, professional, personal, social life. This age crisis in psychology manifests itself more smoothly than the others.
Midlife Crisis
It happens at 40-42 but can start at 35 or 45.
If the previous crisis stages of adulthood are few people are familiar and aware of, then everyone knows about the midlife crisis practically from their own experience.
Psychologists have done a lot of research on this topic, because it is this age of a person that many compare in complexity with adolescence. It is in this age interval that a person for the first time seriously thinks about the non-eternity of earthly existence, there is an awareness of the passport age and the passing of youth.
After this critical period, life can change dramatically.
At the heart of the midlife crisis lies, according to psychologists, the contradiction between how and in what form a person's personal potential was realized, and what the person really wanted. This is actually an experience of a state of dissatisfaction and a weak implementation of life attitudes, values, desires that took place in youth, early youth, and evenrooted in adolescence.
There is a fundamental soul-searching, in simple terms.
A positive way to resolve the crisis is manifested in the acceptance and positive awareness of the past and chosen life order, from lifestyle, profession and ending with the choice of a life partner and the organization of family values. But, unfortunately, for many, this crisis period is experienced difficultly and has a negative orientation and results in social terms. This is a crisis of values. He (the person) actually experiences his entire path as a personal drama, he realizes the wrong choice in life. This kind of drama can take on anything. As they say, a person, as it were, becomes completely different. This happens abruptly and for no reason to others.
What other periods of age-related crises are there?
Retirement Crisis
On average occurs in 50-60 years. At the age of 50-60 years, there is a rethinking of the concept of life and the concept of death. This crisis has no clear boundaries and pronounced characteristics. Often people of this age are aware of their life experience, subject it to careful analysis and are ready to share it with others, but sometimes in a very obsessive way. The latest human age crisis (description) is given below.
Crisis of old age
Usually occurs at age 65 or older. At this age, an assessment of one's own lived life is carried out, an analysis of the years lived.
This is the stage in life when people stop betting andachieve some global goals. There is a summing up of life results. Forces are mainly spent on organizing quiet leisure, maintaining he alth, social ties are predominantly conservative. People of this age experience either disappointment or satisfaction with life. Usually it depends on the psychological makeup of the individual. People of a neurotic warehouse usually experience persistent disappointment; in old age, all neurotic traits intensify. That is why it is quite difficult for relatives to get along and interact with old people of such a warehouse. It always seems to them that everyone owes them, that they have not received something from life.
If there is a perception of the life lived as a whole, in which nothing can be changed, then a person calmly looks into tomorrow and calmly relates to the upcoming departure.
If a person is inclined to exclusively critically evaluate his life and search for mistakes, starting from the choice of profession, family past, then the fear of impending death comes from impotence to correct anything in the past.
Realizing the fear of death, people go through the stages of the following plan:
- Stage of denial. This is a normal reaction of any person to a terrible diagnosis.
- Anger stage. A person cannot understand why he is. Close people suffer from the behavioral reactions of an elderly person. But here the support of loved ones and the opportunity for the patient to pour out their feelings and anger are very important.
- Stage of depression. This stage is also called the state of social death,at this stage, a person realizes the inevitability of the end, he withdraws into himself, not experiencing pleasure from almost anything around him, he realizes himself at the final logical stage of his life, prepares for the impending death, moves away from all surrounding life and people. As they say, the person now simply exists. His social role is no longer visible.
- The fifth stage is the stage of acceptance of death. There is a final and deep acceptance of the near end, a person simply lives in humble expectation of death. This is the so-called mental death.
So, we have given a detailed description of age crises.
