| Stage (age range) | Stage Description |
|---|
| Trust vs. mistrust (birth to 1 year) | Infants learn that they can or cannot trust others to take care of their basic needs. |
| Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (1 to 2 years) | Children learn to be self-sufficient in many activities such as toilet training, walking, and exploring. If restrained too much, they learn to doubt their abilities and feel shame. |
| Initiative vs. guilt (3 to 5 years) | Children learn to assume more responsibility by taking initiative but will feel guilty if they overstep limits set by parents. |
| Industry vs. inferiority (5 years to puberty) | Children learn to be competent by mastering new intellectual, social, and physical skills or feel inferior if they fail to develop these skills. |
| Identity vs. role confusion (adolescence) | Adolescents develop a sense of identity by experimenting with different roles. No role experimentation may result in role confusion. |
| Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood) | Young adults form intimate relationships with others or become isolated because of a failure to do so. |
| Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood) | Middle-aged adults feel they are helping the next generation through their work and child rearing, or they stagnate because they feel that they are not helping. |
| Integrity vs. despair (late adulthood) | Older adults assess their lives and develop a sense of integrity if they find their lives have been meaningful, and a sense of despair if their lives do not seem meaningful. |