Suicidal tendencies and ego identity in adolescence

Studies distinguishing between adolescent suicide attempters and others usually deal with demographic, physiological, or familial contributing factors. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between ego identity development and suicidal inclinations at adolescence. The main hypothesis was that ego identity formation at adolescence may serve as a "buffering" force by providing stability, continuity, meaningfulness, social recognition, commitment, and inner strength against suicidal attempts. Two groups of adolescents, a suicidal group (n = 10) recruited from mental health clinics and a normative group (n = 30), were matched for intelligence, demographic variables, and socioeconomic status. The Adolescent Ego Identity Scale (AEIS; Tzuriel, 1984) and the Israeli Index of Potential Suicide (IIPS) based on Zung's (1974) scale were administered to both groups. The results indicated that the normative group scored significantly higher than did the suicidal group on all but one of the AEIS factors and lower on the IIPS. A MANOVA carried out on ego identity factors revealed a significant overall difference between the two groups. Univariate analyses indicated that most of the ego identity factors differentiated between the two groups. Negative correlations between AEIS and IIPS were found in both groups, especially between total AEIS score and IIPS in the normative group (r = -.89, p less than .001). The findings in general confirm the "buffering" force hypothesis. These preliminary results are discussed in regard to theoretical and preventive aspects.     

Formal operations and ego identity in adolescence

This study investigated the relationship between the development of formal operations and the formation of ego identity in adolescence. Two Piagetian formal tasks, the combinatorial and equilibrium in the balance, and two measures of ego identity, a semistructured interview and an incomplete sentences test, were administered to 20 males and 20 females each at age levels 10-12, 13-15, and 16-18 years. Significant positive correlations were obtained between combinatorial ability and degree of identity, suggesting that high identity may facilitate the application of combinatorial operations. Males exhibited superior performance on the balance task; thus they may utilize more effective cognitive strategies, or be more inherently motivated to solve mechanical problems than females. On the identity interview, females showed a greater degree of commitment to future goals than males in middle adolescence; this may reflect the earlier maturation of females.     

A short measure of economic beliefs

Although there exist a number of self-report measures aimed at determining general social and political attitudes, there exists no scale specifically aimed at measuring economic beliefs. This paper reports the development of an Economics Beliefs Scale based on the Wilson and Patterson (1968) format. The scale was shown to have satisfactory reliability and validity statistics as well as being an economic measure in its own right.     

Gender role identity from an ego developmental perspective

This study, designed to respond to current limitations in gender role identity measurement, presents a conceptual and empirical approach to gender role identity that relies on ego developmental theory. To begin the process of construct validation of this approach to gender role identity, gender role identity was examined in relation to ego development, gender, and marital status. Gender role identity was measured via an interview adapted from Waterman and by the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Ego development was assessed via Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development. The sample consisted of 107 young adult men and women, married and single. In support of construct validity, the gender role interview was found to be correlated with the ego development measure. In support of discriminant validity, different patterns of correlates by gender were found between the gender role interview and the Bem Sex Role Inventory.     

A short scale to measure self-righteousness

Two studies were conducted which created and tested a scale to measure self-righteousness. Self-righteousness was defined as the conviction that one's behaviors or beliefs are correct, especially in contrast to alternate behaviors or beliefs. In the first study, a 4-item scale to measure general self-righteousness was derived which demonstrated adequate levels of internal consistency and was related to dogmatism and ambiguity intolerance. In the second study, the items were worded to be specific to running a race. This study succeeded in demonstrating that the scale possessed predictive validity. This study also demonstrated the usefulness of rewording the general items to make them specific about the content of self-righteousness.     

Parental attitudes and ego identity status of Turkish adolescents

This study investigated the differences among 403 middle adolescents regarding Marcia's four identity statuses in terms of perceived parental attitudes and gender. The Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOMEIS-2) and Parental Education Scale (PAS) were used to collect data. Results showed that children of authoritative parents scored significantly higher on identity foreclosure than those of neglectful parents. Children of permissive parents scored significantly higher on identity foreclosure than those of neglectful parents. In addition, female students scored higher on achievement identity status while male students scored higher on identity foreclosure.     

Sexual identity scale: A new self-assessment measure

An individual's subjective evaluation of sexual identity differs from objective evaluation by sex role researchers. This study reports initial validity and reliability data on a new measure of self-ascribed sexual identity: the Sexual Identity Scale (SIS). SIS considers four functional sex dimensions on the basis of components described in both sex and age role literature. SIS and two modified Bem Sex Role Inventory instruments—a Masculinity Trait Index (MTI) and a Femininity Trait Index (FTI)—were administered to an adult sample of 380 men and 380 women aged 20–80. Reliability, assessed with LISREL VI and Cronbach's alpha, was found to be high. LISREL VI findings provide construct validity, both convergent and divergent. The nature of association of biological sex and sex trait measures, high interitem SIS correlations, as well as divergence from the modified sex trait indices (MTI and FTI) also support validity. The study's results and implications are discussed.     

Body ego and the preoedipal roots of feminine gender identity

Traditionally, visual cues (that is, seeing the difference between one's own genitals and those of the opposite sex) and the fantasies that they prompt were thought to be the central determinants in the organization of gender identity. More recently attention has been focused on mother-infant interaction patterns, on the construction of the body itself, on its kinesthetic sensations, and on the fantasies that these evoke. These matters are now thought to be equal in importance to the traditional considerations. The resulting concept of a core gender identity has suggested the possibility of various forms of preoedipal genital anxiety. This paper discusses how two experiences common to childhood as well as adulthood--the tumescence of erectile tissue and the involuntary vaginal secretions of sexual arousal--may contribute to the organization of feminine gender identity. Case material, including a close examination of an analytic hour, is presented to show how this process may manifest itself in adult neurotic conflict.     

A short measure of the need for affect

Two studies are presented to introduce a 10-item short form of the Need for Affect Questionnaire (NAQ-S; cf. Maio & Esses, 2001 ). Study 1 was based on 4 independent samples (German or English language; N (total) = 2,151) and demonstrated the expected factorial structure of the NAQ-S; its measurement invariance with respect to gender, age, and education; and the predicted associations with relevant personality measures. A latent state-trait analysis conducted in Study 2 (N = 140) suggests that most of the reliable variance of the NAQ-S represents stable individual differences.     

Reliability of a sentence completion measure of ego development.

Studied the reliability of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test by giving 51 9th graders and 26 college students the test twice, a week apart. For 9th graders the design included a test-retest group and two groups given half of the test at each session. Although test-retest correlations were high for the 9th graders, retest scores dropped significantly. With college students (a) test-retest correlations through positive and significant were lower, (b) retest scores did not change systematically, and (c) percentage agreement between test and retest scores was high. Discrepant results were related to motivational set and variance in test scores. Split-half correlations and internal consistency coefficients were high. Likelihood of lower retest scores makes problematic the use of this test for short term pretest-posttest studies seeking to stimulate ego development.     

Late adolescents' home-leaving strategies: predicting ego identity and college adjustment

A definition of leaving home, derived from previous theoretical and empirical conceptualizations, was used to predict late adolescents' ego identity and college adjustment. Four interrelated yet distinct variables, economic independence, separate residence, personal control, and emotional attachment to parents, were highly significant predictors of both ego identity and college adjustment. The results confirm earlier preliminary investigations and support a broader definition of leaving home than those typically discussed in the theoretical literature.     

A validation study of the Draw-A-Person as a measure of racial identity acceptance

The present study is a replication of Schofield's findings (1978) in the use of the Draw-A-Person as a measure of racial identity acceptance. Unlike Schofield's study, the present investigation involved an adolescent sample of blacks and whites, and race of figure drawn was determined by judges' consensus rather than an objective scoring system. The findings generally supported those of Schofield and the racial identity and preference literature as a whole in revealing blacks to be less accepting of their racial identity than whites.     

The effect of sensory deprivation and ego strength on a measure of autistic thinking

In an experiment designed to test aspects of the psychoanalytic theory of ego functioning, 18 male and 18 female subjects were assigned in equal numbers to a 3 1/2-hr period of either sensory deprivation (SD), social isolation (SI) or social participation (SP). Their level of autistic thinking was assessed by a word-association measure administered immediately before and immediately after the treatment condition to which each subject had been assigned. Results showed that subjects assigned to SD showed an increase in autistic thinking scores from pretreatment to posttreatment, whereas subjects assigned to the two control conditions (SI and SP) showed a decrease. Although Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) ego strength (Es) scores correlated negatively with the initial level of autistic thinking in all subjects, the experimental and control conditions had their greatest impact on subjects who scored low in Es. Results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that consensual functioning (particularly for subjects who scored low on Es) depends on continuing contact with reality.     

Sex role identity in young adults: its parental antecedents and relation to ego development

This study, inspired by Block's (1973) work, was designed to enable one to examine how ego development and socialization experience interact in relation to sex role identity. Sex role identity was measured via the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and socialization practices were measured via the Block Child-Rearing Practices Report. Both measures were scaled so as to yield scores on agency, communion, and androgyny. Ego development was assessed via Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development. The sample consisted of 120 young adult men and women, married and single. Analyses revealed that the predictive power of the variables differed by sex. Ego development was predictive of sex role identity in men but not women, whereas socialization practices were predictive of sex role identity in women but not men. The results were seen as supporting Chodorow's (1974) position regarding the differing socialization experiences of men and women.     

Ethnic identity,ego identity,and psychological well‐being among mixed‐ethnic Arab‐European adolescents in Israel

This study explored the relationship between ethnic identity, ego identity, and psychological wellbeing among mixed‐ethnic adolescents with European mothers and Arab fathers in Israel. One hundred and twenty‐seven mixed‐ethnic adolescents (13 to 18 years) were instructed to respond to a modified version of Phinney's (1992) Multigroup ethnic identity measure (MEIM), to Bennion and Adams' (1986) ego identity measure (EOM‐EIS) and to Ryff's (1999) psychological well‐being scale. It was found that Arab and European ethnic identities, composed of ethnic behaviours, affirmation and belonging, and achievement of a sense of oneself as part of an ethnic group, were significantly positively correlated with participants' psychological well‐being. Findings revealed also that the ego identity statuses Achievement and Moratorium were associated with higher levels of psychological well‐being, while the statuses Foreclosure and Diffusion were associated with lower levels of well‐being. Arab and European ethnic identities and ego identity were found to be formed independently among the participants.