Free Child Research Articles

Functional Ego States in Treatment-Resistant Depression in Japan Evaluated Using Two Different Self-Rating Questionnaires

Treatment-resistant depression (TRD), defined as inadequate results after treatment with at least two antidepressants for 8 weeks, may be attributed to multiple factors, including the patient’s personality. In this research, we explored personality profiles based on egograms among 28 outpatients (22 men, 6 women) with TRD. Participants completed two self-questionnaires: the Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) and the Self Grow-up Egogram (SGE). Personality profiles showed the mean energy distribution among five ego states: Controlling Parent (CP), Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC), and Adapted Child (AC). In all 28 patients, the TEG and the SGE revealed a trough of FC and a peak of AC. SGE results showed a negative correlation between the Hamilton Rating Scale for depression score and FC energy. When patients were separated according to CP, egograms revealed low Adult energy in the low CP group and high Adult energy in the high CP group. Overall, this study indicated low FC energy and high AC energy in TRD and revealed two types of personalities with either low CP/low Adult energy or high CP/high Adult energy. These results should be considered in TRD therapy.

중국 후난성 예술디자인학과 대학생의 자아상태와 창의적 행동 간의 내적⋅외적 동기의 매개효과

Objectives For university students majoring in art design in Hunan Province of China, how personality traits and ‘internal and external motive’ influencing creative behavior relate to creative behavior is explored. And I would like to explore whether internal and external motive serve as partial or complete parameters between personality traits and creative behavior, or do not act as parameters. Methods The subjects of the study are college students majoring in art design in Hunan Province, and SPSS 25 program is used to perform reliability, correlation, and regression analysis of personality traits, internal and external motives, and creative behavior. That is, in the regression analysis, a simple regression analysis of internal or external motives(dependent variables) according to the average value of CP and FC, self-state* (independent variable), is performed. Simple regression analysis of creative behavior according to self-state* is performed, and multiple regression analysis of creative behavior according to self-state* and internal or external motivation is performed. Results In the results of this study, the personality traits of ‘critical parent(CP)’ and ‘free child(FC)’ show 25% explanatory power for internal motivation, 16% explanatory power for external motivation, and 43% explanatory power for creative behavior. The personality traits of CP and FC and internal motivation show 31% explanatory power for creative behavior. The personality traits of CP and FC and external motivation show 29% explanatory power for creative behavior. It is confirmed that each internal and external motive partially mediate the effect of the personality traits of FC and CP on creative behavior. Conclusions In order to cultivate the creative behavior of college students in Hunan Province's art design department and to develop each student's competitiveness and art design department, it is necessary to create an environment of school and society so that college students can create creative values in free discussion and freedom. It is necessary to stir up internal motivation that values pleasure and challenge rather than inducing external motivation that focuses on rewards.

Transactional Analysis Shows Child Factor Would be Influential Egogram for Late Teenager

Background: Transactional Analysis (TA) and egogram have been in focus for medical and educational fields. There has been a reliable personality battery, Tokyo University Egogram (TEG). Recent topic includes TEG new version 3 for clinical introduction. Using TEG ver.3, university students were investigated for their egogram pattern. Subjects & Methods: Subjects were 99 late teenagers. They were given lectures of TEG and their data was analyzed three months after the admission of the university. Results: TEG ver3 presents 33 egogram types which are related to the personality of Japanese people. Among them, there were four higher prevalence of egogram types, which were Free Child (FC) dominant, Adapted Child (AC) dominant, Critical Parent (CP) inferior and Child (C) Dominant. The percentage datum of current study vs previous standard value in each type was 10 vs 6.8%, 26 vs 6.1%, 8 vs 2.1% 9 vs 1.1%, respectively. Discussion & Conclusion: These four types are estimated as free-spirit, dependent, loose and selfishness. Elevated FC and AC would be probably due to the influence of educational and social environment in Japan. Among them, high school students must study hard for entrance exams without meaningful social experiences. Further investigation will be required for TEG.

Psychological Application for New Version of Tokyo University Egogram Battery

Transactional Analysis (TA) has been a personality theory beneficial to mutual communication associated with the research of egogram. Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) has been a reliable psychological battery. TEG ver3 was recently introduced, which was applied to 98 university students. The results for 5 egogram factors were compared to previous standard values. Similar data were observed in Critical Parent(CP), Nurturing Parent(NP), and Adult(A). Higher tendency values (vs standard value) were found in male Free Child (FC) 12.3 vs 10.6, male Adapted Child (AC) 13.6 vs 10.0, and female AC 14.8 vs 10.8. Further study for TEG will be expected in the future.

Characteristic Egogram Pattern in University Students Using Tokyo University Egogram (TEG)

Recently, the importance of mental health has been emphasized, and clinical practice and research for egogram has been attracted attention. Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) has been a reliable and useful battery for psychological evaluation. Authors and colleagues have continued several reports of TEG so far. Egogram has 5 egos, which are Critical Parent (CP), Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC) and Adapted Child (AC). Each factor can be calculated by the points from 0 to 20. Subjects were 98 university students and the results were analyzed in comparison with previous standard data of TEG. The results were as follows: i) CP; the average value tended to be slightly lower, but the shape of the distribution was similar, ii) NP; it showed almost the same results as general people, iii) A; average value is similar, but the distribution was different, and no case was found with less than 5 points, iv) FC; average value was higher than general public, and distribution was deviated to high level, v) AC; mean value was higher compared with general people, and distribution was deviated to high level. Several characteristic points were found, which will be worthwhile to psychological development in the future.

Relationship between ego states and neuroticism among Indian males and females

The purpose of this research project was to explore the relationship between ego states of Transactional Analysis (TA) and Neuroticism of the Big Five Factor model of personality among Indian adults. A sample of 192 Indian adults (37% male, 63% female) were administered the Ego State Questionnaire-Revised (ESQ-R) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to discover the relationships between ego states and Neuroticism. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between Neuroticism and the ego states of Critical Parent (CP) and Adapted Child (AC). There was a negative correlation between Neuroticism and the ego states of Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A) and Free Child (FC). (All correlations are significant at 0.05 level using a two-tailed test.) The degree of positive correlations of the CP and AC ego states with Neuroticism, were stronger than the degree of the negative correlations of their corresponding ego states i.e. NP and FC ego states. Among negatively correlated ego states, NP was most weakly correlated with Neuroticism for women but for men it was stronger. Similarly, FC was most weakly correlated with Neuroticism for men, but for women the relationship was stronger. Except for FC, all other ego states showed increased degrees of correlation with Neuroticism from the age group of 25-40 years to that of 41-56 years. Though there are limitations to this research, the findings are in line with TA theory and may have implications for how TA therapy is applied.

Psychological change in egogram for university student for years

Background: Health problems concerning psychosomatic bio-psycho-social matters have been recently emphasized. Among them, the research for transactional analysis (TA) and egogram have been in focus. Authors have investigated egograms in various subjects including university students. Case presentation: The case is a 23-year old male student. When he entered the university at 19 years, his egogram was good-hearted type (Type Na). His current egogram is administrator type (AC inferior). Concerning egogram factors, the actual values were as follows: Critical Parent (CP) was 3 to 5, Nurturing Parent (NP) was 14 to 15, Adult (A) was 5 to 15, Free Child (FC) was 8 to 12 and Adapted Child (AC) was 12 to 5. Discussion: Elevated CP may be from understanding rules and organizational theories in society. Increased A is probably from learning the expertise of liberal arts, computers, mechanics and others in the university. When he was a freshman, he could not decide several matters by following other people from high AC level. Through his various experiences, he can judge adequately with achieving human growth. Consequently, AC seemed to be at the standard level. The current report will be expected to become useful reference for further research in the future.

Characteristic Egogram State of Younger Generation

Background: In the field of psychology and psychosomatic medicine, Transactional Analysis (TA) was and developed by Berne and Dusey. Consecutively, egogram analysis has been prevalent by 5 egos including Critical Parent (CP), Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC) and Adapted Child (AC). In Japan, Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) has been used, and authors have continued egogram research for long. Methods and Results: Subjects were 502 university students. They answered TEG questionnaire with the evaluation of the personality trait. Out of 29 personality pattern, 6 types were more than standard data. They are dependent, short-tempered, self-centered, conflict, solitude and pessimist types. During 10 years of our research, self-centered and solitude have been increasing, and good-hearted and playboy types have been decreasing. Discussion: From current data, several tendency would be speculated: Lower NP seems to be a characteristic for modern university students. It may be related with a noticeable decline in overall morality among younger generations in Japan. Furthermore, the prevalence of internet in the world may influence of the behavior of young people. Not actual experience but information on the internet can make them refrain from active human relations to others. These results would be expected to become useful reference data.

Study of Personality Traits for University Students by Egogram Analysis

Background: Transactional analysis (TA) was developed by Berne and Dusey, and egogram analysis has been performed for long. It has 5 egos including Critical Parent (CP), Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC) and Adapted Child (AC) and has been utilized in Japan as Tokyo University Egogram (TEG). Authors have continued to educate university students concerning egogram for years. The lecture has been useful and significant for their psychological development in adolescence period. Protocol and Results: Enrolled subjects were 250 university students. They answered TEG questionnaire, calculated and discussed the personality trait. TEG has 29 typical personality pattern which is acceptable in Japan. We analyzed the results of 250 cases. There are six types with higher prevalence in the students than the standard value. They are a) dependent 10.0%, b) hot-tempered 13.2%, c) conflict 6.0%, d) good-hearted 6.8%, e) playboy 4.4%, f) pessimism 6.8%. Discussion and Conclusion: From the point of 5 egos, possible reason for higher ratio was speculated. Some trends were found including low A, CP> NP, AC> FC, in relation to current way of thinking in young generation. This result would become the basic data and would develop further research in this psychological field.

Egogram characteristics in Japanese patients with Parkinson's disease

AbstractBackgroundPersonality has been investigated as a possible onset risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently, personality has attracted increasing attention because certain non‐motor aspects may be associated with patients’ personality and deterioration of their quality of life. The Tokyo University Egogram version II (TEGII) is a reliable questionnaire for assessing personality in Japanese people, but few studies have reported personality assessments in Japanese PD patients.AimTo clarify the clinical utility of the TEGII for evaluating personality in Japanese PD.MethodsPatients were consecutively enrolled in four medical centers throughout Japan, and their personality was evaluated using the TEGII. Personality is described in terms of five ego‐states: critical parent (CP), nurturing parent (NP), adult (A), free child (FC), and adapted child (AP). The scores for each ego‐state and the egogram patterns describe personality characteristics. We statistically analyzed our data and compared the results with standardized data from a Japanese cohort.ResultsWe enrolled 133 PD patients. The mean scores ± SDs of the five ego‐states were CP: 11.4 ± 4.5, NP: 14.5 ± 4.2, A: 10.5 ± 4.8, FC: 11.1 ± 4.7, and AC: 9.5 ± 5.2. NP scores were significantly higher than the others (P < 0.001), and the NP dominant pattern (15.8%) was most frequent.ConclusionThe NP dominant pattern, which illustrates a thoughtful, obliging and kind personality, is characteristic of Japanese PD patients. The TEGII is a simple clinical tool for evaluating personality in PD and can be used to evaluate changes in patients over time.

The Egogram Feature of Late Teenager in the Internet Generation

Background: Historically, transactional analysis (TA) was initiated and developed by Berne and Dusey, and egogram analysis has been utilized for years. The egogram includes five egos such as critical parent (CP), nurturing parent (NP), adult (A), free child (FC), adapted child (AC), and has been applied using Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) in Japan. University students were given our class of egogram, and they were studied for further evaluation of the egogram analysis. Research Protocol and Results: Subjects were 376 late teenagers in university students. They were to answer TEG questionnaire with the evaluation of the personality trait. There are 29 typical standard personality patterns acceptable in Japan. By analyzing the data of the subjects, six types with higher prevalence were found in the students than the standard ratio. These are dependent, short temper, self-centered, conflict, solitude, and pessimism. Discussion and Conclusion: From the analyzed data, the overall trend would be as follows: (1) NP is generally low. (2) CP and AC are relatively high, and (3) distribution of A and FC is wide. Subjects are in the internet generation. Obtained data would suggest the probable involvement of the continuing daily internet utilization and various growing environments of each subject.

간호대학생의 자아상태, 자존감, 공감정도가 대인관계에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects that nursing students' ego-states, self esteem, and empathies have on their interpersonal relationships. The subjects of this study were 210 nursing students who enrolled in interpersonal relationship & communication classes at A university in J city. Collected data were analysed with descriptive analysis, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. The results showed self esteem took 37 as a significant predictors of interpersonal relationship, followed by FC (Free Child, 26), and AC (Accepted Child, -18). The model explained 42% of the variables. Based on the findings, I suggest educational interventions should consider these factors to enhance nursing students' interpersonal relationships.

대학생의 정신건강에 영향을 주는 요인 - 사상체질과 자아상태를 중심으로 -

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to address differences between mental health according to sasang constitution and ego state among college students. Methods: Data for this cross-sectional study were collected by administration of questionnaires eliciting Woo's ego state scale, QSCC II for the sasang constitution classification, and SCL-90-R for mental health to 393 college students. Analysis was performed using IBM SPSS (version 19.0). Results: The Free Child ego and Adapted Child ego differed significantly among sasang types. The ego-gram pattern of So-eum type exhibited the N pattern (Nurturing Parent (NP)>Adapted Child (AC)>Adult (A)>Free Child (FC)>Critical Parent (CP), AC-high type), however, the ego-gram pattern of other constitution types showed the M pattern (NP>FC>A>AC>CP). No statistically significant differences in mental health were observed among sasang types, however, among ego states, AC and CP showed negative correlation with mental health status. Between So-eum type and So-yang type, AC was the factor predicting mental health. Between Tae-eum type and undefined type, AC and CP were factors predicting mental health. Conclusion: These findings suggest that sasang constitution could be an important factor in understanding the ego state and mental health status. We conclude that sasang constitution should be considered in interpretation of mental health status presentation in clients.

Psychological factors that promote behavior modification by obese patients

BackgroundThe weight-loss effect of team medical care in which counseling is provided by clinical psychologists was investigated in an university hospital obesity (OB) clinic. Nutritional and exercise therapy were also studied. In our previous study, we conducted a randomized, controlled trial with obese patients and confirmed that subjects who received counseling lost significantly more weight than those in a non-counseling group. The purpose of this study was to identify the psychological characteristics assessed by ego states that promote behavior modification by obese patients.Methods147 obese patients (116 females, 31 males; mean age: 45.9 ± 15.4 years) participated in a 6-month weight-loss program in our OB clinic. Their psychosocial characteristics were assessed using the Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) before and after intervention. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare weight and psychological factors before and after intervention. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify factors affecting weight loss.ResultsOverall, 101 subjects (68.7%) completed the program, and their data was analyzed. The subjects mean weight loss was 6.2 ± 7.3 kg (Z = 7.72, p < 0.01), and their mean BMI decreased by 2.4 ± 2.7 kg/m2 (Z = 7.65, p < 0.01). Significant differences were observed for the Adult (A) ego state (0.68 ± 3.56, Z = 1.95, p < 0.05) and the Free Child (FC) ego state (0.59 ± 2.74, Z = 2.46, p < 0.01). The pre-FC ego state had a significant effect on weight loss (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), and a tendency for changes in the A ego state scores to affect weight loss (β = - 0.20, p = 0.06) was observed.ConclusionThis study of a 6-month weight-loss program that included counseling by clinical psychologists confirmed that the A ego state of obese patients, which is related to their self-monitoring skill, and the FC ego state of them, which is related to their autonomy, were increased. Furthermore, the negative aspects of the FC ego state related to optimistic and instinctive characteristics inhibited the behavior modification, while the A ego state represented objective self-monitoring skills that may have contributed to weight loss.

The Egogram Is a Potent, Independent Risk Factor for Hypertension in Pregnancy

To assess the association between the egogram and hypertension in pregnancy (HP), a case-control study was carried out. Seventy-one HP cases, primiparous aged 20 to 34 years, and 109 controls, were enrolled among pregnant women who visited our hospitals for obstetrical care. Data from a self-administered questionnaire containing a Self Grow-Up Egogram (SGE) were subjected to univariate and multivariate analyses with prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and angiotensinogen (AGT) genotype. The mean +/- standard error of total scores for the critical parent (CP) scale were 9.7 +/- 0.5 for cases and 8.3 +/- 0.3 for controls, those for the nurturing parent (NP) scale were 13.6 +/- 0.4 for cases and 13.4 +/- 0.3 for controls, those for the adult (A) scale were 11.3 +/- 0.5 for cases and 10.9 +/- 0.3 for controls, those for the free child (FC) scale were 12.3 +/- 0.3 for cases and 13.8 +/- 0.3 for controls, and those for the adapted child (AC) scale were 10.2 +/- 0.4 for cases and 8.5 +/- 0.4 for controls. A low FC scale score (FC < or = 10) and a high AC scale score (AC > 10) were significantly associated with HP ( p < 0.05; p < 0.01, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, FC < or = 10, AC > 10, prepregnancy BMI > or = 24, and homozygosity of the T235 allele genotype of the AGT gene were detected as the potent independent risk factors for HP. The odds ratios were 2.2, 2.8, 4.0, and 2.5, respectively. The present results suggest that a low FC score and a high AC score may be potent, independent risk factors for HP.

The relationship of lifestyle factors, personal character, and mental health status of employees of a major Japanese electrical manufacturer

To examine the relationship lifestyle factors, personal character, mental health status, and job strain a self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among employees of a leading electrical manufacturing company in Japan. A total of 2,327 workers (Male=1,668, Female=659) responded to the survey. We analyzed the relationships of health practices based on such factors as: Free child (FC) from the Egogram, the Working-life satisfaction, and the General Health Questionnaire-28 through Path-analysis techniques.The following results were obtained: The mental health status was significantly affected by such factors as health practices, Working-life satisfaction, personal character (FC), life satisfaction, and age. Health practices and personal character (FC) showed a direct relationship to the mental health status and an indirect relationship to the Working-life satisfaction and life satisfaction. The variances accounting for mental health status were 41.8% in male workers and 43.8% in female workers.Path-analysis data suggested that mental health status was affected about 40% by lifestyle, personal character, Working-life satisfaction, and life satisfaction. It was suggested that there might be important factors affecting mental health status but which are unknown to us by as much as 60% in the present day. These findings suggested the necessity of further investigation of the relationship among lifestyle factors, mental health status, and job strain among employees of a reputable company in the present day.

Personality characteristics of patients with "white coat" hypertension.

To clarify psychological factors related to white coat hypertension, we examined personality characteristics of patients with mild essential hypertension by psychological testing. Patients with essential hypertension were taught to measure their own blood pressure (BP) with a semi-automatic oscillometric BP measuring device and were asked to measure BP at home in the sitting position before going to sleep. The duration of the study was 8 wk. Patients were defined as "white coat" hypertensive patients (WCHT) (n = 49) if home systolic BP was 135 mmHg or less and home diastolic BP was 85 mmHg or less, and as "sustained" hypertensive patients (SHT) (n = 53) if home systolic BP was 140 mmHg or more or home diastolic BP was 90 mmHg or more. All the patients underwent the following psychometric tests: self-rating questionnaire for depression, MMPI alexithymia scale, type A behavior pattern check list, general health questionnaire (GHQ), and egogram check list. WCHT did not differ from SHT in the scores for depression, alexithymia, type A behavior pattern, or GHQ. However, WCHT showed an abnormal pattern on egograms, as compared with SHT. On egograms, SHT showed a normal hill-shaped pattern with a peak in "nurturing parent (NP)", and "free child (FC)" was higher than "adapted child (AC)" in both genders. In contrast, WCHT showed significantly lower FC and significantly higher AC than SHT, and AC was higher than FC in both genders. These findings suggested that WCHT tend to suppress their own emotions and become over-adaptive to their surroundings, as compared with SHT.

The Assessment of Transactional Analysis Ego States Via the Adjective Checklist

Transactional Analysis (TA) conceptualizes personality in terms of five functional ego states: Critical Parent (CP), Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC), and Adapted Child (AC). The present investigation was designed to develop a procedure for the assessment of the relative strength of ego states from the responses of persons who are not familiar with TA theory. Fifteen TA experts assigned ego-state ratings to the 300 items of the Adjective Check List (ACL) with high interjudge agreement being found. Using the judges' mean raft rigs, a system was developed for obtaining ego-state scores for any selected set of ACL adjectives. The use of the system was illustrated by its application to the ACL self-descriptions of 100 university students which were analyzed in terms of "egograms" in which the five functional ego states were expressed relative to one another. A test-retest study involving an additional 154 students demonstrated stable individual differences in ego-state scores. Mean egograms of female and male students did not differ from one another but showed appreciable differences from the expert judges' ratings of the "psychologically healthy person." The potential Usefulness of the procedure in clinical practice and in testing TA theory is discussed.