Ego development in the face of death: How being HIV positive affects movement through Erikson's adult stages of development

Erikson's epigenetic model of psychosocial development posits that each of eight stages unfolds in a particular sequence, and each becomes the primary issue of concern at specified times in the life cycle. Erikson does not address, nor could any empirical studies be located, exploring how the emergence of these eight stages might be affected by a diagnosis of terminal illness. The purpose of this study was to understand how an HIV-positive diagnosis affected movement through Erikson's stages of development. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 18 HIV-positive men and women under 45 years of age. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed three findings regarding Erikson's stages: (1) The fifth stage of idenitity versus role confusion was revisted and the sense of self is redefined; (2) the three adulthood stages of intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and ego integrity versus depair were dealt with simulataneously and, in most cases, resolved favorably; and (3) intimacy and generativity enabled and supported the resolution of the tasks of identity and ego integrity.     

Association between self-concept and body weight, gender, and pubertal development among male and female adolescents

This study examined the effects and interactions of gender, pubertal status, and body weight on the self-concept of 462 young adolescent Australian students from two different schools. All students enrolled in Years 7 and 8 completed the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents, which includes several self-concept subscales and ratings of the importance of each subscale. The self-concept subscales ranked as most important by male and female students were Close Friendship, Scholastic Competence, and Job Competence. Females rated their ability to form close friendships significantly higher and of greater importance than did males. Standard body weight was related to students' Physical Appearance subscale scores, with higher weight students having lower self-concept, and postmenarcheal females having the poorest opinion of their physical appearance. Higher body weight males had lower scores on Athletic Competence, Job Competence, and Behavioral Conduct than did other males. Overweight females and normal weight males considered athletic competence to be more important than did other students. Pubertal status was related to students' scores on Athletic Competence, with postpubertal males who were not overweight scoring highest, and on Physical Appearance, with postmenarcheal females having the lowest opinion of their appearance. The mean self-concept score was significantly related to students' standard body weight, and there was an interaction between gender and puberty, with postpubertal males having the highest and postmenarcheal females the lowest self-concept score. The discrepancy score suggested that females felt they had failed to meet their ideal self-concept significantly more than did males. The results suggest that school programs should be implemented to provide exercise and job skill training suitable for all students, especially those who are overweight. These programs, while taking into account students' pubertal status, should aim to improve self-image without resulting in feelings of failure.     

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.     

Ethnic identification,religious identity,and psychological well-being among Muslim and Christian Palestinians in Israel

This study examined relationships between ethnic identification, religious identity, and psychological well-being. The participants were 854 indigenous Israeli Palestinians, of whom 520 (36% males and 64% females) were Muslim and 334 (39% males and 61% females) Christian students, respectively. The sample ranged in age between 17 and 38 years, with a mean of 24.31 (SD = 4.43). Measures of Palestinian ethnic identity, religious identity, and psychological well-being were administered to study participants. The analysis revealed that, for each of the Muslim and Christian samples, Palestinian ethnic identity and religious identity were weakly positively correlated, a finding indicating a possible relative independence between these constructs. After partialling out the effect of age and religious identity, increased degrees of Palestinian ethnic identification linked to higher degrees of positive indicators of well-being and to lower degrees of negative indicators of well-being within each of the samples. These findings held, and were even more pronounced, in the case of religious identity, after controlling for age and Palestinian ethnic identity. The study concludes that religious identity may equal or exceed ethnic identity in importance as a feature of minority individuals’ self-concept informing their well-being.     

Social desirability and relations between goal orientations and competitive trait anxiety in young athletes

ObjectivesTo examine the impact of a social desirability response set on relations between goal orientation and performance anxiety in youth sports.DesignCorrelational field design.MethodData assessing goal orientation, performance anxiety, and social desirability were obtained from male (n=106) and female (n=75) adolescent athletes (M age=12.1 years; SD=1.3 years).ResultsFemale athletes reported significantly higher levels of task orientation and lower levels of ego orientation and concentration disruption, than males. As predicted, ego orientation was positively correlated with all indices of performance anxiety in males and females. Task orientation was negatively associated with all indices of performance anxiety in males but only concentration disruption in females. Social desirability was negatively related to ego orientation in males and females, and positively related to task orientation in females, but not males. Performance anxiety was negatively related to social desirability in females, but not males. Controlling for social desirability attenuated the observed relations between goal orientations and performance anxiety in females, but not males.ConclusionsThese results suggest the importance of incorporating measures of social desirability when studying psychosocial variables with either positive or negative connotations. Our results suggest that social desirability may contribute to relations between goal orientation and anxiety in athletes, particularly females.     

Future orientation,identity and intimacy: Their relations in emerging adulthood

This study examined the relationships between future orientation and identity and intimacy among Israeli emerging adults. Future orientation was defined in terms of behavioural (exploration, commitment) and motivational variables (value, expectance, and control) as they apply to two domains representing major adult tasks: career and family. Results showed that both career and family future orientation variables were related to identity and intimacy, with greater differences between the exploration and commitment links to identity and intimacy than among the motivational variables links to identity and intimacy. Specifically, although identity and intimacy were intercorrelated, commitment was related to identity and exploration was related to intimacy, while value and expectance (i.e., confidence about materialization of hopes and plans) were related to both. However, by controlling for the effect of identity, a negative relationship between commitment to career and intimacy was unmasked.     

消费者自我-品牌联结的内涵、形成机制及影响效应

自我-品牌联结(self-brand connections,简称SBC)是指消费者使用品牌构建、强化以及表达个体性或社会性自我的程度.自我-品牌联结形成机制包括两种,消费者认同的视角阐述了消费者会根据自我认同的不同纬度,构建出一系列从个体性到群体性再到更加普遍的民族层面上的品牌联结;品牌意义传播的视角流动性地阐述了自我-品牌联结形成的三个阶段.自我-品牌联结的影响效应是指品牌联结会对品牌关系形成积极、正性的影响,但该效应的发挥会受到诸多因素的调节.未来研究应关注自我-品牌联结的文化心理、自我心理以及我国消费者民族品牌联结的培育机制等问题.     

Evaluating Self-Concept and Ego Status in Erikson's Last Three Psychosocial Stages

The objective of this article is to suggest behavioral criteria that can be used for assessing the status of self-concept and ego development in Erikson's last three psychosocial stages. The strength of Erikson's theory has been in its contribution to the understanding of human development through a continuum of psychosocial stages. A weakness, however, has been in the uncertainty about the particular behaviors one should look for when assessing the positive or negative aspects of self-concept and ego development. To parallel an earlier article examining Erikson's first five stages (Hamachek, 1988), three tables of different behavioral expressions are presented, each providing examples of possible behaviors and implicit attitudes related to positive and negative ego resolutions associated with the last three stages. Implications for evaluation of problem concerns and counseling are noted.     

Attachment,temperament, and ego development in young adulthood

Attachment and temperament have each been thought to contribute to personality development; however, few empirical studies have examined the relations between the two. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate, in young adulthood, the relations among attachment, temperament, and two aspects of ego development, namely,overall ego development and ego development with respect tointimacy. One hundred and seven college students served as participants. Sixty one percent classified themselves as securely attached and 39% as insecurely attached. A factor analysis of the Emotionality-Activity-Sociability (EAS) Temperament Survey for Adults yielded a primary factor (labeled negative emotionality) that accounted for 41% of the variance. A regression analysis then revealed that both attachment status and temperament predicted overall ego development; however, only attachment status predicted ego development with respect to intimacy. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Linkages Between the Psychosocial Stages of Identity and Intimacy and the Ego Strengths of Fidelity and Love

According to Erik Erikson, fidelity and love are ego virtues or strengths that emerge from successful psychosocial stage resolutions of identity and intimacy. However, such proposed linkages have remained untested. To examine these assumptions, we conducted a study among 153 undergraduates (ages 18 through 22) from predominantly White, middle class backgrounds. Participants completed measures of identity and intimacy, fidelity and love, and masculinity and femininity. Fidelity and love served as dependent variables in regression analyses, and identity, intimacy, femininity, masculinity, and gender served as independent variables. Consistent with Eriksonian theory, advanced identity formation predicted fidelity for men and women. In respect to love, identity was the strongest predictor for men, and both intimacy and identity predicted love for women. Femininity and masculinity shared in the prediction of fidelity and love, but for women only. The role of sex roles in identity and intimacy is discussed.     

Perceived Functions of Family and Friends During Childhood,Adolescence, and Youth: Developmental Theories of Two Turkish Groups

The present study compared Turkish University students' and middle-aged adults' developmental theories about the perceived importance of needs related to different life tasks and functionality of relationships with parents, same-sex siblings, and friends for need satisfaction during childhood, adolescence, and youth. A retrospective method was used. The following results emerged: (1) the importance of needs related to a search for identity and intimacy increased and the importance of those related to dependency decreased from childhood to adolescence; (2) needs related to intimacy maintained a high level of importance during youth whereas importance of the need for self-understanding/development decreased from adolescence to youth; (3) increases in the perceived importance of friends occurred between childhood and adolescence, especially with respect to needs related to identity and intimacy issues; (4) decreases in the perceived importance of parents were reported between adolescence and youth, especially with respect to needs related to identity, intimacy, and dependency; (5) developmental theories of groups and sexes did not differ; (6) group and sex differences with respect to importance ratings of some needs emerged.     

Adolescent identity formation: a Swedish study of identity status using the EOM-EIS-II

The aim of this study was to examine ego identity status among Swedish adolescents using the EOM-EIS-II. Identity status scores and distributions were examined for 222 (108 female, 114 male) Swedish high school students. Identity status differences were found between genders. There was a greater likelihood of female adolescents being categorized as moratoriums than were males, and there was a greater likelihood of males being categorized as diffusions than were females. Statistically significant differences were found between genders on the following subscales: moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. No statistically significant differences were found between females and males on the identity achievement subscale. To achieve a preliminary construct validation of the results from the EOM-EIS-II, four of the 222 participants were also assessed using Marcia's identity status interview. A fairly good accordance between the interview assessment of identity status and the EOM-EIS-II assessment were found. Interview results showed differences between the interviewers on each subscale (IA, M, F, and D). The same differences were detected on three of four subscales when assessing these individuals' identity statuses using the EOM-EIS-II.     

Adult attachment and patterns of extradyadic involvement

Relationships between patterns of extradyadic involvement (EDI) and adult attachment were examined separately with undergraduates and community adults reporting prior EDI. Those with fearful or preoccupied styles reported more intimacy motivations for EDI, and undergraduates with these styles also reported more self-esteem motivations. Conversely, those with a dismissive style reported more autonomy motivations for EDI. Those with a fearful attachment style reported ambivalence about intimacy in the EDI. Fearful and preoccupied undergraduates and community males reported a more obsessive extradyadic relationship. However, dismissive individuals did not report more casual EDI. Gender effects also emerged, with females reporting more intimacy motivations than males, and undergraduate males reporting more casual EDI than undergraduate females. In the undergraduate sample, dismissive males had the most extradyadic partners over the prior 2 years relative to all other groups, and preoccupied females reported more partners than secure females. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Searching for self and relationships online.

The purpose of this project was to study how Internet use relates to psychological well-being, relationships, the self and identity. University students (N = 203) completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of time spent online, "pathological" Internet use, Internet motivation, loneliness, relationship quality, self-concept clarity, and ego identity. Results showed positive relationships between measures of Internet use and loneliness. As well, face-to-face relationships were rated higher on both positive and negative quality dimensions relative to online relationships. Finally, Internet use was negatively correlated with self-concept clarity, and associated with moratorium identity status. These results suggest that the Internet may be an important aid for young adults as they searched for an adult identity.     

Gender-related personality traits and ego development: Differential patterns for men and women

Two studies were designed to test the hypothesis that enhanced ego level affords the capacity to express those gender-related traits stereotypical for the opposite sex. In Study 1, 209 white male and female college students completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire and the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test, a semiprojective measure of ego development. Analyses revealed that for women, instrumentality was related to ego development; for men, expressiveness was associated with ego level. Study 2 further tested this hypothesis using a more heterogeneous sample and several alternative measures of gender-related traits, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Nontraditional gender role traits and ideals (masculinity for females, femininity for males) were associated with higher levels of ego development. Implications of the findings for ego development theory are discussed.     

Does level of motor competence affect the associations between identity health and self-perceptions in adolescents?

BackgroundAdolescence is a particularly important time for the development of self-perceptions and identity as many environmental and personal factors are influential. One relatively unexplored factor is level of motor competence.AimTo examine the relationship between identity health and self-perceptions in male and female adolescents with low motor competence (LMC) compared to typically developing (TD) adolescents.MethodAdolescents (N = 160, 64.4% males, M_age = 14.45 yrs., SD = 0.75) completed the Adolescent Motor Competence Questionnaire (AMCQ), Assessment of Identity Development in Adolescence (AIDA), and Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA). Based on the AMCQ score, the sample was grouped into LMC and TD. Pearson's product moment correlations between the AIDA and SPPA subscales were derived for gender, competence groups, and gender x competence sub-groups.ResultsOverall, males had lower AIDA scores (healthier identity) than the females and significant associations with all self-perception domains. For females, only scholastic and social competence, physical appearance, behavioural conduct, close friendship and Global Self-worth (GSW) domains were significantly related to their AIDA score. The adolescents in the LMC group had higher AIDA scores (less-healthier identity) and fewer self-perception domains [scholastic competence, physical appearance, behavioural conduct, close friendships and GSW] were associated to their AIDA scores. For the TD group, all self-perception domains were significantly correlated with their AIDA scores. When grouped by gender and motor competence, the TD males had the healthiest identity scores which were strongly associated with all self-perception subdomains. For males with LMC, only scholastic competence, behavioural conduct and GSW domains were significantly related with their identity score. Females from both competence groups reported significant associations between physical appearance, close friendships, behavioural conduct, and social competence domains with their identity scores. Scholastic competence was also significantly associated with identity only for females with LMC.ConclusionPositive self-perceptions across a range of domains are associated with a healthier identity, but differ according to level of motor competence and gender. For those with LMC, the self-perception subdomains unrelated to physical activity and sport, such as school-based aspects were associated with a healthier identity. These findings should guide school based interventions to provide support in these domains in order to strengthen self-worth and identity health.     

The conceptual commonality between impulsiveness as a personality trait and as an ego development stage

This research was an attempt to demonstrate the conceptual commonality between impulsiveness as a trait and as an ego development stage through correlations on measures of both. An Eysenckian measure of broad trait impulsiveness (Imp_B) consisting of four impulsiveness subscales, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT) of ego development were administered to 62 male students and 101 female students distributed across three different educational levels (Junior High, Senior High and College). Significant correlations between Imp_B and the WUSCT (-0.23 for the males and -0.31 for the females) supported the hypothesized commonality. Correlations between the WUSCT and the four impulsiveness subscales indicated that Narrow Impulsiveness and Risk-taking were more indicative of ego development than Non-planning or Liveliness. Age trends in the patterns of correlations demonstrated that the commonality between trait impulsiveness and ego development was limited to the early stages of ego development. Sex differences on a number of trait measures and on the WUSCT indicated that males lag behind females in ego development during adolescence. It was hypothesized that the aspect of impulsiveness most indicative of ego development was an unsocialized aspect which might be captured by Eysenck's dimension of psychoticism (P). Correlations between P and WUSCT supported this hypothesis (-0.49 for the males and -0.29 for the females). P apparently has more concept commonality with ego development than has trait impulsiveness. Age trends and sex differences in impulsiveness, psychoticism, and aggressiveness were discussed. It was argued that these personality characteristics would be better understood if explored within a developmental framework such as ego development.     

Sex, competitiveness, and intimacy in same-sex friendship in Hong Kong adolescents

One of the alleged reasons that males report lower intimacy in same-sex friendships than females is that males tend to be more competitive than females, but this assumption has not been empirically tested. In the current study, 121 Hong Kong adolescents filled out Chinese versions of the Intimate Friendship Scale and the Competitiveness Index. As predicted, females reported having more intimate same-sex relationships than males, and they scored lower on competitiveness than males. However, the correlations between scores on the Competitiveness Index and the Intimate Friendship subscales were small and nonsignificant, suggesting that the sex difference in intimacy was not a function of competitiveness.