Faculty Articles

Relations between Level of Ego Development and Adjustment Pattern in Adolescents

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Personality Assessment

ISSN

0022-3891

Publication Date

12-1980

Abstract

The present study was designed to assess the relation between Loevinger's hierarchy of ego development stages, measured by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, and adjustment patterns as measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. A total of 150 high school students between the ages of 14 and 15, 75 boys and 75 girls, served as subjects. It was hypothesized that certain adjustment patterns were more prevalent at certain points of the ego development hierarchy than at others, specifically: (a) hypochondriasis and psychopathic deviance at the ego stages below conformity; (b) hysteria at the conformist ego level; and (c) obsessive-compulsiveness and paranoia at the ego stages above conformity. All of these hypotheses, except that regarding psychopathic deviance, were supported by the data. One unpredicted relationship, a tendency for depression to be most characteristic of the conformist ego group, was found.

DOI

10.1207/s15327752jpa4406_11

Volume

44

Issue

6

First Page

630

Last Page

638

Peer Reviewed

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