Critical Thinking Questions

1. Some theorists believe that early attachment relationships have enduring long-term effects. Others think that such effects depend on the quality of the ongoing parent–child relationship, which tends to be correlated with the security of children’s early attachment to parents. How do you think researchers might go about examining this issue?
2. Based on what you have read about attachment and the development of the self, what negative effects might children experience as a result of being placed in a series of different foster-care homes? How might these effects vary with the age of the child?
3. What are the similarities and differences in the stages or phases of identity development as discussed by Erikson or Marcia (general identity development), Phinney (ethnic identity), and Savin-Williams (sexual-minority identity)? What factors might contribute to similarities and differences? What variables might be especially relevant for ethnic identity and for identity in regard to sexual orientation?
4. What are some of the practical and conceptual difficulties of determining when children first recognize that they are physically attracted to same-sex or other-sex individuals?
5. Recall Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development (Chapter 9). How might a person’s self-esteem be affected by the events and outcomes associated with each of the stages?