Ego adaptation and cultural variables.

Abstract

Introduction Constitutional factors, parental and other object relationships, as well as environmental influences have all been seen to contribute significantly to the formation of character structure. All of these variables have been taken into account in the study of psychopathology and specific defenses. This paper, which is a clinical study, is concerned with certain emotional common denominators found in the second generation immigrant group. I do not wish to draw any generalizations about a particular religious or national group. The similarities found in some second generation patients of Jewish, Italian, and French backgrounds will be stressed although it is recognized that there are many differences and that by no means do such patients represent a homogeneous group. The Jews, especially, are the most complicated of all cultural groups, since they are always a product of a condensation of cultures: Jewish and German, Jewish and Polish, Jewish