Latency stage is referred to as the latent stage of psychosexual development. The latency stage is the fourth psychosexual development stage of the theory, which begins at the age of 6–7 years and lasts until puberty. Freud termed this stage as a relatively stable stage than the other three stages since there is not much sexual development as most of the sexual desire is repressed by the child. This stage originates when the fixation from the earlier stage known as the phallic stage is dissolved. In the phallic stage, as the child becomes aware about their bodies and those of their opposite sex, their attention is focused on the primary erogenous zone. They start to become aware about the differences in the girl and boy bodies. During the phallic stage, boys develop the Oedipus complex; boys start to gratify their mothers as they are focusing on their libido or sexual derive upon their mothers and develop competitive and jealous feelings for their fathers. Girls face the Electra complex, wherein the girls focus on their id or sexual derive and direct it toward their fathers and start to develop envy and jealous feelings toward their mothers. These complexes can be resolved through various ways, that is, the boys start to copy their father to gain the masculine qualities that would help them attract the opposite sex and the girls too start identifying with their mothers, and this helps to resolve the complexes during this stage. Thus, the latency stage occurs when these complexes are dissolved. They realize that their sexual desires and wishes cannot be fulfilled due to which they shift their focus toward friends, classmates, or hero models. They transfer this libido from their parents to friends and others as they now are able to identify with the same-sex parent. However, as the sexual desires are repressed or shifted, it leads to the development of a defense mechanism known as repression and sublimation.

Major Changes During the Latency Stage:
The child is able to resolve the fixation of phallic stage.

The child is able to identify and imitate with the same-sex parent rather than the opposite sex.

The focus of the libido shifts from primary pleasure-seeking behavior to development of self.

The child starts to become more aware of their body and realize that the body has more to offer through its capabilities than just the primary genital area.

Their libido is directed toward friends, classmates, or hero-models whom they idolize from their parents.

They becomes more aware about the body of the opposite sex.

The focus is to make their own identity, associate with more people for more social connection, and improve the communication stage.

They indulges in social activities and adapt new skills and knowledge to work on self

The child learns when to pay attention to their id needs and gains more systematic organization and more over their superego, which guide them toward behaviors and thoughts that are appropriate and accepted in the society rather than just benefiting them to fulfill their child-like demand.

There is little or no sexual desire and motivation.

The child learns the way of the world and about realities of life that help them to repress their traumatic experiences of early childhood.

Challenges During this Stage:
In the latency stage, a child works over his or her social and communication skills, which helps to them to build, identify, and boost their self-confidence. Their attention is directed toward the realities of life, activities, hobbies, and play; very little or no attention is paid toward their sexual needs. As the child is trying to repress the memories of the past phallic stage, they do not want to concentrate on the same feelings. If this uninterested and demotivated attitude to address their sexuality needs remains unidentified, it would later make them develop unhealthy and non-fulfilling relationships in life. They will not feel important to fulfil neither their own sexual desires nor their partners, which would lead to problematic and unhappy relationships. Also, since the children are repressing their memories from the phallic stage and learning about the realities of life, frequent interaction and conflicts might lead to dilemmas without their id, ego, and superego, where they tend to develop shameful feelings as they cannot face their desires of id nor it is ethical, resulting into just giving up on superego without paying attention to any other drive or feeling. If this is prolonged, the child in later age might develop a confused state of mind where they feel an inability to understand which desires to address first.

Latency stage is referred to as the latent stage of psychosexual development. The latency stage is the fourth psychosexual development stage of the theory, which begins at the age of 6–7 years and lasts until puberty. Freud termed this stage as a relatively stable stage than the other three stages since there is not much sexual development as most of the sexual desire is repressed by the child. This stage originates when the fixation from the earlier stage known as the phallic stage is dissolved. In the phallic stage, as the child becomes aware about their bodies and those of their opposite sex, their attention is focused on the primary erogenous zone. They start to become aware about the differences in the girl and boy bodies. During the phallic stage, boys develop the Oedipus complex; boys start to gratify their mothers as they are focusing on their libido or sexual derive upon their mothers and develop competitive and jealous feelings for their fathers. Girls face the Electra complex, wherein the girls focus on their id or sexual derive and direct it toward their fathers and start to develop envy and jealous feelings toward their mothers. These complexes can be resolved through various ways, that is, the boys start to copy their father to gain the masculine qualities that would help them attract the opposite sex and the girls too start identifying with their mothers, and this helps to resolve the complexes during this stage. Thus, the latency stage occurs when these complexes are dissolved. They realize that their sexual desires and wishes cannot be fulfilled due to which they shift their focus toward friends, classmates, or hero models. They transfer this libido from their parents to friends and others as they now are able to identify with the same-sex parent. However, as the sexual desires are repressed or shifted, it leads to the development of a defense mechanism known as repression and sublimation.

Major Changes During the Latency Stage:
The child is able to resolve the fixation of phallic stage.

The child is able to identify and imitate with the same-sex parent rather than the opposite sex.

The focus of the libido shifts from primary pleasure-seeking behavior to development of self.

The child starts to become more aware of their body and realize that the body has more to offer through its capabilities than just the primary genital area.

Their libido is directed toward friends, classmates, or hero-models whom they idolize from their parents.

They becomes more aware about the body of the opposite sex.

The focus is to make their own identity, associate with more people for more social connection, and improve the communication stage.

They indulges in social activities and adapt new skills and knowledge to work on self

The child learns when to pay attention to their id needs and gains more systematic organization and more over their superego, which guide them toward behaviors and thoughts that are appropriate and accepted in the society rather than just benefiting them to fulfill their child-like demand.

There is little or no sexual desire and motivation.

The child learns the way of the world and about realities of life that help them to repress their traumatic experiences of early childhood.