High Ego Strength Research Articles

Does Aging Identity Moderate the Impact of Experiences with Familial Ageism on Well-Being?

This study begins to investigate the effects of ageism in the family context. The current literature has documented the negative impacts that negative stereotypes and negative perceptions of aging have on older adults’ health, mortality, and well-being (Levy, 1996; Levy, 2003). However, the majority of extant research on ageism focuses on age discrimination in the workplace and in healthcare despite the majority of peoples’ time being spent in the family context. Therefore examining experiences of ageism sourced from family members merits study. Walker, Bisconti and Kinkade (in preparation) found evidence that the experience of ageism within the family context varies from the workplace context. Past research has demonstrated that older adults who identify as being older and adapt to the changes that arise with aging are associated with higher levels of self-esteem (Whitbourne, Sneed, & Skultety, 2002; Weinberger & Whitbourne, 2010). It is hypothesized that age identification will serve as a moderator for the relationship between familial ageism and well-being. Participants completed a set of questionnaires measuring experiences with familial ageism, depression, self-esteem, and ego strength. Experiences of familial ageism correlated with the well-being outcome variables in the predicted direction. Age identity moderated the relationship between familial ageism and depression and ego strength, such that participants who identified as being younger or identified as their age reported lower depression scores and higher ego strength scores. These findings suggest that age identity may serve as a buffer against the negative impacts that experiences of familial ageism has on well-being.

Ego-Strength and Self-Concept among Adolescents: A Study on Gender Differences

Self-concept refers to an individual’s thoughts, ideas, views, images and/or perceptions about him/herself. This comprises of social or personal identity of an individual and his/her personality traits. A person having a positive self-concept will have a positive image of him/herself maintaining the congruency between the real self (who s/he really is) and the ideal self (who s/he wants to become) on the contrary individuals having a negative image of self suffer discrepancy between the real and the ideal self. Ego-strength is the extent of effectiveness with which our ego works in regulating the impulses and adjusting to the environment. It seeks balance while delaying the gratification of needs. Individuals low on ego-strength lack motivation and confidence believing themselves to be incompetent whereas people high on ego-strength are motivated, resilient and confident seeking to fulfill challenges by believing in themselves and their abilities. This investigation was an attempt to study the effect of gender on self-concept and ego-strength among adolescents, aged 18-22 years. The sample consisted of 120 adolescents (60 females and 60 males) randomly selected from private colleges of Chandigarh. Tools used were C-Factor of 16- PF ( Cattell & Eber, 1962) which measures the whole range of personality (Factor C i.e. emotional stability vs. high ego strength) and Six- Factor Self-Concept Scale (SFSCS; Stakes, 1994) that assesses the self-concept and perceptions of an individual regarding him/herself across six domains/constructs i.e. Task accomplishment, morality, vulnerability, power, giftedness & likeability. The hypothesis stated that: a) female adolescents will be higher on self-concept as compared to the male adolescents age ranging from 18-22 years and b) the female adolescents will be higher on ego-strength as compared to their male counterparts. Findings of the study indicated: a) That female adolescents were higher on self-concept as compared to male adolescents age ranging from 18-22 years b) There was no significant difference in the ego-strength among the female and male adolescents significantly proving the first hypothesis true.

How gaining knowledge and awareness of ego strength will assist teachers in understanding learners better

This article gives a historical overview of the development as well as the current usage of the term ego strength. The factors involved in the development of ego strength, the impact of ego strength on learners and the necessity for teachers’ awareness are discussed. A combined quantitative-qualitative research design was followed, where a group of 110 learners were tested for ego strength in order to establish the general ego strength among young adolescents. Two case studies were conducted: one of a learner with high ego strength and the other of a learner with low ego strength, in order to establish their experience of themselves in their relationships. More or less a third of the group had a low ego and superego strength. In the light of the impact of low ego strength on the classroom situation and the importance of ego development for learning necessary life skills, we provided guidelines for teachers regarding ego development as a fundamental aspect in childhood development. We contend that in teacher training more attention should be given to ego development in young children, not only for the sake of an organised classroom but for the intellectual, emotional and social development of learners.

Testing a Joint Moderator of Ego Strength and Ethical Climate: A Study of the Process of Peer Reporting Intentions in IT Ethics

This investigation examines how ego strength and organizational ethical climate jointly moderate the ethical decision making process involved in forming peer reporting intentions. A conceptual model is proposed, in which peer reporting intentions are influenced simultaneously by subjective norm, ethical judgments, and attitudes. Additionally, the relationships are moderated by a joint moderator, which combines ego strength and ethical climate. The subjects, namely MIS students, were provided with scenarios depicting unethical IT behavior by colleagues and asked if they would have peer reporting intentions in these situations. Test results confirm that subjective norm and attitudes influence peer reporting intentions, and partially support the influence of ethical judgment. Notably, compared with low ego strength individuals under an unclear ethical climate (LU individuals), high ego strength individuals under a clear ethical climate (HC individuals) display a stronger relationship between ethical judgment and peer reporting intentions. Finally, the influences of subjective norm and attitudes on peer reporting intentions are similar for both LU and HC individuals. The implications of this situation are discussed as well.

Changes in Levels of Ego Strength and Spirituality of Recovering Alcoholics in AA

Abstract This study examined the levels of ego strength and the claims of having a spiritual experience in 100 recovering alcoholics from Alcoholics Anonymous groups located in South Louisiana. The study found that greater lengths of sobriety were associated with higher ego strength scores on the following scales: Hope, Purpose, Competence, Fidelity, Care, and Wisdom. Additional findings included greater number of times in treatment was associated with higher scores on the Will, Purpose, and Fidelity scales. In addition, spirituality appeared to be involved in staying sober. Specifically, those claiming to have had multiple spiritual experiences had longer sobriety than those who had just one type of spiritual experience.

The Relation Between Intrinsic Religious Faith and Psychological Well-Being

This study examined the relation between intrinsic religious faith and psychological well-being in a sample of 210 adult participants. Intrinsic religious faith was defined not as simple agreement with religious doctrine, but as belief in and reliance on a higher power. The study's results indicate that high faith participants have significantly lower anxiety and depression scores, are less likely to exhibit signs of character pathology, and have significantly higher ego strength scores than participants with lower faith scores. Whereas significant differences were generally found between groups of high and low faith participants in terms of functioning, only modest correlations were obtained between overall faith scores and the measures of well-being, suggesting considerable individual variation in the relation between faith and psychological functioning.

Ego strength and stress reaction in Kuwaiti students after the Iraqi invasion.

Correlations between scores on the Barron Ego Strength Scale and a checklist of 18 Symptoms of stress reactions were calculated for two responses from 503 undergraduate Kuwaiti students (225 men and 278 women). Using total scores on both measures for all students the correlation was -.42, so students with higher ego strength scores tend to have fewer stressful symptoms. rs by symptoms ranged from -.33 to -.11.

Hearing loss, control, and demographic factors influencing hearing aid use among older adults.

Preference for non-use of hearing aids among older adults who are candidates for amplification remains to be explained. Clinical studies have examined the contribution of consumer attitudes, behaviors, and life circumstances to this phenomenon. The present study extends the interests of earlier investigators in that it examines psychological control tendencies in combination with hearing loss and demographic variables among older adults who elected to accept (adherents) or ignore (nonadherents) advice from hearing professionals to acquire and use hearing aids. One hundred thirty-one individuals participated by completing measures of hearing, hearing handicap, psychological control, depression, and ego strength. Participants were asked to provide demographic information and personal opinions regarding hearing aid use. Adherence group and gender differences were noted on measures of hearing sensitivity, psychological control, and demographic factors. Female adherents demonstrated greater hearing loss and poorer word recognition ability but less hearing handicap, higher internal locus of control, higher ego strength, and fewer depressive tendencies than female nonadherents. They reported demographic advantages. Female adherents assumed responsibility for effective communication. Although male adherents and nonadherents did not differ significantly demographically, male adherents were more accepting of their hearing loss, took responsibility for communication problems, and found hearing aids less stigmatizing. Implications for clinical practice and future clinical investigations are identified and discussed. Results are expected to be of interest to clinicians, clinical investigators, and health care policymakers.

SUCIDE RISK

This paper deals with correlates of suicide and violence risk and attempts to integrate the findings in terms of a theory called a two-stage model of countervailing forces. This model assumes that the strength of the aggressive inipulse is controlled by different classes of variables called amplifiers and attenuators. They also influence the direction of the aggressive impulse when a threshold level has been assed. Examples of amplifiers of the aggressive impulse that have been empirically idelhed are: depression, inipulsivity, feelings of anger, recent psychiatric symptoms, rejection by one's father, and use of displacement as a defense mechanism. Examples of attenuators are: social supports, high ego strength, sociability in father and mother and use of denial as a defense mechanism. The vectorial interaction of amplifiers and attenuators creates an unstable equilibrium making prediction of suicide and violence extremely difficult.

Coping with cancer during the first year after diagnosis. Assessment and intervention

The emotional coping of 205 patients newly diagnosed with cancer was evaluated every 4 months during a 1-year period. Patients received a psychosocial intervention either immediately (early intervention, EI), or after a 4-month delay (later intervention, LI). No significant differences were found between the two groups, except at 8 months, when the LI group was significantly less depressed, anxious, and worried, and felt more in control than the EI group. The LI group continued to have less worry related to illness at 12 months. Patients with high ego strength had low levels of distress at baseline and may not have needed the intervention. The emotional coping of patients with breast cancer improved during the year regardless of the intervention timing. Patients with other diagnoses appeared to benefit most from the IL. It was concluded that patients with low ego strength and diagnoses other than breast cancer might be at higher risk for psychosocial complications and could benefit from the intervention.

Personality correlates of a measure of honesty

It was hypothesized that screening applicants for theft proneness using the Reid Report might screen in more conservative, more rigid, and less creative candidates, in effect outweighing the benefits of the instrument. A sample of 179 applicants were administered the 16PF and the Reid Report. Sex, minority status, and type of position applied for were shown to be independent of performance on the Reid Report. Applicants passing the Reid Report were shown, at a statistically significant level, to have higher ego strength, to be less anxious, more apt to behave in socially desirable ways, less driven by id impulses, and less inhibited. Furthermore, applicants failing the Reid Report were shown to have total 16PF profiles which were statistically significantly closer (D2) to the 16PF profiles of five pathological groups than were those passing the Reid Report. Higher scores on the Reid Report were related to faking good on the 16PF. Since the relationship between 16PF faking good and the Reid Report may be indicative of real personality variance, distortion variance, or both follow-up research has been suggested.

Es scale level and correlates of MMPI elevation: alcohol abuse vs. MMPI scores in treated alcoholics.

Examined the impact of MMPI Ego Strength (Es) level on the size of Pearson correlation coefficients computed between scores for posttreatment alcohol use and MMPI scores on standard and research scales and indices in a group of 54 (45 men, 9 women, mean age 41.3 years) treated alcoholics. In line with theoretical expectations, no significant (p greater than .05) coefficients were found in the group of high Es scorers (T scores above 50; N = 30) for any of the MMPI variables. In contrast, about one-half of the coefficients in the low Es group (T scores below 50; N = 24) were significant (p less than or equal to .05): All were in the expected direction; the more intensive the alcohol use, the higher the MMPI scores. The low and high Es groups did not significantly differ in respect to age, education, gender ratio, and posttreatment alcohol use (t-tests, p greater than .05).

Ego strength and methods of learning associations

High ego-strength subjects, determined by the Cattell 16PF, were shown to be inferior to low ego-strength subjects in learning paired associations by the anticipation method, whereas the reverse was true when learning by the study/test method, when the list involved noncompeting materials. High ego strength is assumed to correlate with a high degree of control of responding tendencies and, hence, with a high response-confidence threshold. Learning is assumed to be retarded under the anticipation method due to competition within the method in the rapid alternation in retrieval and storage processes, which further heightens the confidence threshold, that of the high ego-strength subjects being above that of the low ego-strength subjects. On a competing task, the interaction did not occur, but significant effects were obtained for both ego strength (low inferior) and method such that the overall pattern of results suggested further insight into the processes affected by both ego strength and the two methods.

The Vital Marriage: A Closer Look

Although most couples enter marriage expecting that theirs will be a vital relationship replete with intrinsic rewards, few achieve this lofty ideal. The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the nature of those personality characteristics that enable couples to develop and sustain a vital relationship. The findings, taken from data gathered by a questionnaire, indicate that vital marital partners possess personality needs that promote: (a) sexual expressiveness; (b) otherness rather than selfness; (c) determination; and (d) high ego strength. These findings are discussed in terms of an individuation-mutuality paradigm.

Stress and Success in Dentistry

This article describes a study of relationships between a selected set of personality characteristics, as measured by the 16PF, and the success outcomes of a group of 109 dentists. Results indicate that Factor C (high ego strength), Factor F (liveliness and enthusiasm), Factor H (venturesomeness), Factor Q1 (experimenting), Factor Q3 (high self-concept integration), Factor Q4 (tenseness), Factor QII (anxiety) are significantly related to one or more index of success (satisfaction, size of practice, income and professional advancement). Findings are compared to results of earlier research concerning relationships between personality and stress related illness. Implications of findings are discussed in terms of the influence of personality on individuals' capacity to cope with occupational stress.

Psychological correlates of monoamine oxidase activity in normals.

This study replicates and extends earlier work by finding that low levels of platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity correlate with sensation seeking, high ego strength, positive affect, and high leisure time activity levels, somewhat similar psychological correlates also being found for plasma amine oxidase activity. Although there are several ways in which a schizophrenia/MAO relationship may exist and still be congruent with the present data, these results pose difficulties for theories which link low MAO activity levels specifically to schizophrenia. Nothing in the present findings, however, is incongruent with the possibility of an association between low platelet MAO activity and bipolar affective disorder.

Psychological and physiological variables associated with large magnitude voluntary heart rate changes.

ABSTRACTForty subjects, given binary and proportional auditory and visual feedback and asked to raise and lower their heart rate on signal, were able to produce increases of up to 46 bpm and decreases of up to 14 bpm, with a mean increase over 5 experimental days of 11 bpm and a decrease of 5 bpm. Increases in both diastolic and systolic blood pressure and increases in skin potential level and number of skin potential responses accompanied voluntary increases in heart rate but not decreases. Subjects with the highest resting heart rate variability and skin potential level were best able to raise their heart rate. Subjects with the highest resting heart rate and highest resting heart rate variability were best able to decrease the heart rate. Subjects with high Ego Strength scores (or low Welsh's Factor A scores) on the MMPI were best able to control their heart rate. The Ego Strength score, resting heart rate, and resting heart rate variability were all significantly intercorrelated. Subjects showed marked individual differences in ability to control heart rate, although there was a significant correlation between ability to raise and ability to lower heart rate.

Ego Strength and Confidence Thresholds in Two Methods of Paired-Associate Learning

Two experiments contrasted the effects of high and low wgo strength (as measured by Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Questionaire) on confidence thresholds (FG scores) under the anticipation and recall methods. High ego strength resulted in larger FG scores under the anticipation method- weakly so in Experiment I but significantly so in Experiment II, where subjects were selected from greater extremes of ego strength. This inferiority extended to trails to criterion and a measure of the associative-learning stage as well. Tasks for extending the generality of the obtained relationship of ego strength and confidence thresholds in paired-associate learning are suggested.

Self-Reinforcement Processes in Children

In the research literature there have been various labels given to specific self-reinforcement patterns. These labels often reflect differences among the situations in which the self-reinforcement typically occurs, but gloss over the fact that in all instances the behavior pattern includes the self-generation of rewarding or punishing consequences to the individual. Caution, restraint, or reluctance in the dispensation of self-reward, especially in the face of continued failure, comes under the rubric of frustration tolerance, “high ego strength,” or even high need-achievement. Similarly, dispensation of contingent self-criticism may be seen as accurate self-appraisal or good “reality testing” or even, again, as high need-achievement, while noncontingent self-criticism or punishment may be labeled masochism or low self-concept. Across all these labels, however, there is the unifying characteristic that the behavior patterns so labeled produce either self-reinforcing or self-punishing consequences. This chapter deals with a number of specific aspects of children's positive and aversive self-reinforcement: processes governing the acquisition of patterns of self-reinforcement, socialized standards for self-reinforcement, social comparison influences in self-reinforcement, cognitive factors in self-reinforcement, and self-reinforcement as a mechanism of self-control.

Regional Contexts of Political Participation: Some Illustrations from South India

Il y a deux façons de rendre compte des différences dans la participation politique entre deux régions. La première se fonde sur les relations bien connues entre les caractéristiques individuelles et l'activité politique. Par exemple, la scolarisation est reliée de façon positive à plusieurs formes d'activité politique. Si la région dont le taux de participation est le plus élevé compte la plus forte proportion d'individus qui possèdent la caractéristique en question (par exemple, la plus forte proportion de diplômés de niveau collégial), on peut expliquer les différences régionales par la variation dans cette proportion. Dans la recherche présentée ici, on cherche plutôt à expliquer les différences régionales dans la participation par le recours, partiel tout au moins, à des aspects plus globaux (c'est-à-dire « contextuels ») des régions : diversité linguistique et sociale, acuité de la hiérarchie sociale, compétition politique. Les variables contextuelles sont différentes des caractéristiques individuelles et doivent s'ajouter à elles pour une explication plus complète. Etant donné qu'on a utilisé presque exclusivement l'approche individuelle dans les recherches précédentes, cet article insiste sur l'approche contextuelle.Les données du recensement et les résultats électoraux sont regroupés par régions qui correspondent aux districts et aux Etats ainsi qu'à une catégorie intermédiaire, sous-étatique. La participation électorale et le nombre de candidats par circonscription sont les deux variables dépendantes. L'interprétation des données est conduite selon un modèle de l'organisation sociale qui a été largement utilisé par les chercheurs qui ont travaillé dans l'Inde du sud. Les hypothèses qui en découlent sont vérifiées dana les faits au moyen de tableaux à double entrée et d'une analyse de régression. En gros, la proportion de la variance dans la participation électorale et le nombre de candidats dont le modèle rend compte varie du tiers à plus des deux tiers, selon le type de région et la variable dépendante dont il s'agit. On interprète aussi à l'aide du modèle les différences dans la participation en milieu urbain et en milieu rural.