What Is Erikson's Relationship With Ambivalent Children

298 Words2 Pages

The third relationship between a child and parent is the ambivalent relationship. This type of relationship means a child “may be insecurely attached to his parents.” The characteristics that come with ambivalent children are, “often very clingy, tend to act younger than they really are and may seem over-emotional, might use baby talk or act like a baby when in preschool, love being the center of attention, often cry and get frustrated easily, get upset if people aren’t paying attention to them and have a hard time doing things on their own, seem to latch onto everyone for short periods of time, and have a very hard time letting parents go at the beginning of the day as the crying may last a long time.” (Lynette C. Magaña with Judith A. Myers-Walls and Dee Love n.d.). …show more content…

Mistrust. Trust vs. Mistrust is a stage in infancy from birth- 2 years old, and its all about an infant “gaining trust in self and environment vs. feeling mistrust and wariness of others.” So, if an infant “develops a sense of trust as a result of being looked after, attended to when needed, and loved by its parents” then will grow up being happy and healthy, as well as possibly having a secure attachment with its parents. However, if the infant “develops a sense of mistrust as a result of being neglected or poorly treated, they will display a lack of interest in their surroundings causing them to become unhealthy and possibly have depression when older.” Also, as it feels neglected then it will possibly grow up as an insecure attached child. (Theories of Developmental Psychology