This first stage of Sheehy’s prediction is when the teenagers are uncertain of themselves when facing a peer group or sex role Sheehy predicts that “rebounds” to the family are noticeable between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. The moment they diverge from the friend circle, they are seen as outcasts, and the feeling of being lost starts to kick in. Friends become the substitute for parents and siblings, and there are no restrictions and limitations. Although this is what they wanted, after awhile they soon realize how much experience they lack in living alone. ” College, for most, is the mode of transportation for teenagers to get away from home. ” In this stage, the eighteen-year olds motto is: “I want freedom from my parents. The first step of Sheehy’s ladder is known as the “Pulling up Roots. Sheehy refers to her self-proclaimed stages of life as the “developmental ladder” in which everyone will go through at some point in their lives.

She uses age as a major factor to indentify and categorize the human stage into six stages: “Pulling Up Roots”, the “Trying Twenties”, “Catch-30”, “Rooting and Extending”, the “Deadline Decade”, and lastly “Renewal or Resignation. Did one ever wonder why a person’s characteristics and behavior change when he or she experiences different stages of life? Also, can one predict what kind of life he or she will lead during the next stage, depending on his or her age? Just as the title of the passage suggests, Sheehy predicts different stages that most people experience between the ages of eighteen and fifty.

Gail sheehy stages development