Latency stage

The latency stage is the fourth stage of Sigmund Freud's model of a child's psychosexual development. Freud believed that the child discharges their libido (sexual energy) through a distinct body area that characterizes each stage.

The stages are:

• the 'oral phase' (first stage)
• the 'anal phase' (second stage)
• the 'phallic phase' (third stage)
• the 'latency phase' (fourth stage)
• the 'genital phase' (fifth stage).