Using Erikson’s psychosocial stage of trust versus mistrust, can you identify ways in which child workers’ developmental needs may or may not be met? Answer box for question 1

Erikson’s psychosocial stage of trust versus mistrust shows how the developmental needs of working children are not met.

Explanation:

Erikson’s psychosocial stage of trust versus mistrust shows that very young children, around two years old, need an environment where they can explore and socialize to create a sense of trust, happiness and positive development. Children who do not have the resources to socialize and explore, end up developing a sense of distrust and anxiety, unhappiness, as their development needs are not met. Working children do not have the freedom to explore and socialize, test their childhood ideas and challenge themselves according to the environment around them. These children do not have their senses of trust stimulated and become oppressed and limited, anxious and lacking great abilities to plan and explore ideas. In this case, we can see that the trust versus distrust stage shows how the developmental needs of working children are not met.