A jilted college student is admitted to a hospital following a suicide attempt and states, No one will ever love a loser like me. According to Eriksons theory of personality development, a nurse should recognize a deficit in which developmental stage?
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A
Trust versus mistrust
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B
Initiative versus guilt
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C
Intimacy versus isolation
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D
Ego integrity versus despair
The statement that matches what is being asked is Intimacy versus isolation.
A. Trust versus mistrust
This could seem tempting if the idea in “Trust versus mistrust” addresses a different mechanism or priority than the one emphasized by the stem The wording does not track the stem’s main cue, so selecting it would shift the nurse away from the most precise interpretation or priority.
B. Initiative versus guilt
This sounds reasonable when the idea in “Initiative versus guilt” addresses a different mechanism or priority than the one emphasized by the stem The wording does not track the stem’s main cue, so selecting it would shift the nurse away from the most precise interpretation or priority.
C. Intimacy versus isolation
This matches the stem because The nurse should recognize that the client who states, No one will ever love a loser like me has not adequately completed the intimacy versus isolation stage of development. The intimacy versus isolation stage is presumed to occur in young adulthood between the ages of 20 and 30 years. The major developmental task in this stage is to establish intense, lasting relationships or commitment to another person, cause, institution, or creative effort. Need: Psychosocial Integrity Developmental theories help the nurse connect present coping and relationship patterns to age-expected tasks, which can inform realistic goals, communication style, and supportive interventions. From a nursing standpoint, this selection guides assessment and interventions toward what is most clinically meaningful in the moment—risk reduction, safety, accurate appraisal, and support for adaptive coping.
D. Ego integrity versus despair
This would apply in a different scenario where the idea in “Ego integrity versus despair” addresses a different mechanism or priority than the one emphasized by the stem The wording does not track the stem’s main cue, so selecting it would shift the nurse away from the most precise interpretation or priority.
Conclusion
The stem points to a specific principle; the right answer is the one that applies that principle without adding or subtracting meaning. The distractors sound acceptable on the surface but do not match the stem as closely.