The importance of identity and intimacy in early adulthood has been highlighted by various theorists. Some have proposed a phased development model while a few others have provided a continuous development model. Erikson (1963) was among the first theorists to underline the relationship between the two variables and its influence on the psychosocial development of the person. Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. Erik Erikson (1963) proposed 8 sequential stages that the individual must go through for healthy development. At each stage, the person is confronted with fundamental conflicts, the positive resolution of which would lead to the development of a virtue. If unresolved, they experience a crisis corresponding to that stage that may be resolved later in life. Fundamental to the early adulthood phase is the phase of intimacy versus isolation. According to Erikson (1963), healthy identity formation during adolescence is a necessary precursor to intimacy in romantic relationships during early adulthood. If the individual experiences role confusion during adolescence, then forming intimate relationships becomes difficult. This difficulty in forming a close reciprocal relationship with others leads to a state of isolation. For this reason the two phases were taken into consideration in their entirety