ABSTRACT
An understanding of psychosocial development for adolescents is typically divided into three categories: early, mid, and late. This chapter focuses particularly on early and mid-adolescence. Active use of psychosocial developmental best practices in school settings has a big payoff, especially for mid-adolescents. A best practice application and an example of how to influence individual psychosocial development in a school setting were also included. The chapter considers the measuring psychosocial development (MPD) as a pre-test and post-test measure to conduct a study at an alternative middle and high school for youth struggling with school drop-out. Based upon biographical and anthropological methods of study, Erik Erikson's theory proposes that every individual experiences eight developmental stages in the course of the life span; they are listed in chronological order, referring to the developmental stages: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. identity confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and ego integrity vs. despair.
