An Eriksonian measure of personality development in college students: A reexamination of Constantinople's data and a partial replication.

Abstract

Constantinople's finding that males showed a clearer pattern of increasing psychosocial maturity during the college years than did females was challenged in a reexamination of the original data and a partial replication. It appears that Constantinople's findings regarding sex differences were attributable to the operation of cohort effects. The data in the original study indicated that scores for males and females varied by college class cohort in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The longitudinal data from the partial replication revealed differential patterns of change over time for men and women within two college class cohorts. The sensitivity of the Inventory of Psychosocial Development to cohort effects was discussed in the context of Erikson's theory.