Washington University Sentence Completion Test Research Articles

Matters of Conscience and Conscientiousness: The Place of Ego Developmentin the Five-Factor Model

The Five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1990) and Loevinger's (1994) theory of ego development are two active research traditions that are often construed as incompatible approaches to the study of personality. For example, each theory proposes a different view of the concept of conscientiousness. Loevinger argued that FFM conscientiousness, which emphasizes attributes such as order, self-discipline, and achievement striving, lacks a moral component and is more similar to the conformist stage in her theory. To investigate these claims, we administered the Revised NEO–Personality Inventory (NEO–PI–R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) to 120 university students on 2 separate occasions. Together, the five traits of the FFM significantly predicted item sum scores from the WUSCT (multiple R = .54). Unique linear relationships of Openness to Experience and Agreeableness with ego level demonstrated that the two theories proposed similar constructs. We argue that these two FFM dimensions have conceptual relevance to the cognitive and interpersonal aspects of the ego development construct. We draw further connections between these FFM dimensions, ego development, and human values.

Relationship of sports experience and ego development of adolescent Japanese athletes.

This study examined the relationship of sports experience with ego development. A questionnaire was used to assess experience of Crisis, Exploration, and Commitment in the issues of Athletic Performance and of Being a Teammate in 782 adolescent Japanese athletes (423 boys, M age = 15.2 yr.; 359 girls, M age = 15.0 yr.). Their Ego Levels were assessed using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test. Correlations indicated that scores on Crisis, Exploration, and Commitment in the issues of Athletic Performance and Being a Teammate were generally associated with Ego Development. Multiple regression analyses indicated that, for boys, the issue of Athletic Performance was closely associated with Ego Development, while for girls, the issue of Being a Teammate was closely associated with Ego Development. Sports experience with crisis, exploration, and commitment may be related to accommodation, which is, in turn, related to ego development. The sex differences on issues related to ego development may be associated with differences in sex-role development for boys and girls.

Effective use of projective techniques in clinical practice: Let the data help with selection and interpretation.

By learning about the validity of individual test scores, psychologists can avoid using scores that are invalid and making judgments that are potentially harmful to their clients. This is important not only for improving clinical and forensic practice but also for avoiding lawsuits. In this article, the effective use of projective techniques is described, with attention to the overperception of psychopathology, diagnosis and the description of symptoms, and the detection of child abuse. Guidelines are offered for using the Rorschach, Thematic Apperception Test, human figure drawings, and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test.

A Critical Review of the Validity of Ego Development Theory and Its Measurement

Loevinger's (1976) theory of ego development represents an important and original approach to understanding personality development. More than 20 years have elapsed since the last substantial critical review of the validity of the theory and its measurement (Loevinger, 1979). Our article provides an updated critical review of the theory by reviewing the considerable body of research that has accumulated over the past 20 years. This review addresses the construct, predictive, and discriminant validity of ego development theory and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Loevinger & Wessler, 1970; Loevinger, Wessler, & Redmore, 1970) as its measurement. We conclude that there is substantial empirical support for the conceptual soundness of ego development theory and the WUSCT.

The Impact of Modified Instructions on Ego-Level Scores: A Psychometric Hazard or Indication of Optimal Ego Level?

Various modified instructions have different effects on the Washington University Sentence Completion Test for Ego Development (Loevinger, 1985). These effects were reviewed and 2 alternative explanations were explored: The "measurement unreliability explanation" versus the "optimal level explanation." Both explanations were systematically studied in 2 test-retest experiments with the Sentence Completion Test for Children and Youths (Westenberg, Treffers, & Drewes, 1998). The modified instructions were to make a favorable impression on the tester ("fake good" condition) or to complete the sentences in as adult and mature a manner as one can ("be mature" condition). Both experiments were conducted with 9- to 15-year-old children and adolescents (N = 127, 128). As was anticipated, neither the fake good nor the be mature condition yielded higher (or lower) reliability indexes as compared to the standard instructions, hence discounting the measurement unreliability explanation. Also as expected, the fake good condition did not yield significantly higher ego-level scores, whereas the be mature condition did yield significantly higher ego-level scores. The former instructions did not convey information relevant to the construct or measure of ego development, whereas the latter instructions did convey information relevant for raising ego-level scores. It is argued that the higher scores under the be mature instructions might reflect the respondents' "optimal" ego level (best functioning), whereas the ego-level score under the standard instructions might reflect their "functional" level (normal functioning).

Developmental themes in women's emotional experiences of motherhood.

In this study, women's levels of ego development and their psychological difficulties were examined in relation to feelings in the maternal role. The sample consisted of 91 mothers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Ego development was assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, and psychological difficulties were operationalized by self-reported global symptomatology, maternal substance abuse, and expressed anger. Outcome variables included feelings of satisfaction, distress, and support in the maternal role, as well as the degree to which negative and positive emotions were integrated in response to hypothetical vignettes of challenging everyday child-rearing experiences. Hypotheses were that women at high levels of ego development would show greater deterioration in the presence versus absence of self-reported adjustment problems than would those at lower levels. A series of interaction effects each indicated trends consistent with the hypotheses. These results add to accumulating evidence that tendencies toward self-examination, characteristic of high developmental levels, do not inevitably serve protective functions but may be linked with heightened reactivity to negative intrapsychic forces.

Family Factors in the Ego Development of Adolescent Girls

Thirty-nine adolescent girls, 16–19 years, were observed together with their 2 parents at a family discourse about moral and family issues on which they disagreed, to study interaction and conflict handling in families with daughters at different levels of ego development. Family interactions were coded by the Constraining and Enabling Coding System, ego development by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test and handling of internal conflict by Bond Defense Style Questionaire. Daughters' ego development was predicted by parental cognitive and affective enabling, but not by constraining communications. Fathers' cognitive and affective enabling transactions and mothers' affective enabling transactions contributed to the explained variance in the adolescents' ego development when daughters' age, parents' SES and ego development were controlled for in hierarchical regression analyses. Parents' ego levels were related to their enabling transactions, which also predicted daughters' ego levels, suggesting that especially enabling parenting behavior may play a mediating role. Mothers' challenging behavior toward daughters and parental autonomy from responding in kind to daughters' communications were also related to high ego levels in daughters.

Negotiation of conflict, communication patterns, and ego development in the family of adolescent daughters

Late-adolescent females ( N = 39) and their parents were studied, relating the quality of conflict negotiation in the family to their ego development and their dyadic communication patterns. Family communication was evaluated by the Constraining and Enabling Coding System (CECS; Hauser et al., 1985) from discussions in a revealed difference task. Each statement given by a person directed at another was coded and scores were aggregated. Quality of negotiation for the family as a unit was assessed from the discussions in molar codings guided by Stierlin’s (1974) model of individuated relationships and developed for this study. Ego development was measured by Loevinger’s Washington University Sentence Completion Test. Analyses showed that the adolescents’, but not the parents’, ego level predicted family negotiation scores. The results also suggested that the quality of family negotiations was enhanced by different patterns of dyadic communication between adolescent daughters and their parents. Negotiating skill was high when there was cognitive complementarity between parents and daughters such that the father was cognitively enabling toward the daughter (and she was not) and the daughter was cognitively enabling toward the mother (whereas this was not predictive of the mother), and there was affective symmetry between parents and daughters (both facilitative). Daughters contributed to negotiation skill in the family by being more attentive to the mother than to the father. Regression analyses indicated that affective factors were more predictive of the negotiation climate in the family than cognitive factors.

Cross-validation and extension of the MMPI-A IMM scale.

Seventy-five female and 76 male college undergraduates participated in a cross-validation of the IMM scale, developed for the MMPI-A. These participants completed the IMM scale which was scored in two ways: one used the regular MMPI-A score, IMMA, and the other, IMM2, was based on the subset of these items that also appear in the MMPI-2. They also completed a gender-appropriate version of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT) and a brief biographical questionnaire. High inter-rater reliability (.80) was established for scoring the WUSCT for ego developmental level based on the most recent version of the scoring format. Statistically significant correlations were found between ego level scores and both the IMMA and the IMM2 scales. Means and standard deviations on both IMM scales for the males and females in the MMPI-A and the MMPI-2 restandardization samples, respectively, were obtained.

A Comparative Study of Relational Interconnectedness, Merger, and Ego Development in Lesbian, Gay Male, and Heterosexual Couples

One hundred ninety participants, including 34 lesbian couples, 31 gay male couples, and 30 heterosexual couples, were administered a series of questionnaires which assessed each partner's perceptions of relational interconnectedness and merger. The Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development (SCT: Loevinger& Wessler, 1970) was also administered to assess participants' level of ego development. We predicted that lesbian couples would be most inclined to relational interconnection as well as merger when compared to heterosexual and gay male couples, and that merger, postulated as a healthy process, would be positively correlated with ego development across all couples. Couples revealed occasionally experiencing merger and rated this experience as moderately important to their overall sense of relationship satisfaction. Ego development was not significantly correlated with relational interconnectedness or merger. Findings provided partial support for recent reformulations of merger as a healthy versus a regressive or pathological experience and did not suggest strong differences among lesbian, heterosexual, and gay male patterns of emotional connectedness.

Individuation, ego development and the quality of conflict negotiation in the family of adolescent girls.

Individuation, ego development and family negotiation of conflict were studied in 27 Norwegian families with an adolescent daughter, 16-19 years, drawn from a larger sample to represent a rectangular distribution of ego development. Individuality and Connectedness (individuation) as conceptualized and scored by Condon et al. (1984) was modified and adapted to a Norwegian material. Four factors were extracted, one related to individuality (self-assertion and separateness) and two to connectedness (clarification and acceptance). Ego development, measured by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (Loevinger & Wessler, 1970) was related to connectedness between mother and daughter and between father and daughter, but not to individuality. Maturity of conflict negotiation was positively related to connectedness between mother and daughter and negatively to individuality between father and daughter. It was argued that for women, individuality may not be a singular goal in ego development or in individuation and that self-other differentiation of identity and interests may develop within a close relationship and not only through separation.

Individual differences in adult ego development: sources of influence in twins reared apart.

A behavior genetic analysis of the personality dimension of ego development, as assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, was carried out on a sample of 45 pairs of monozygotic twins and 28 pairs of same-sex dizygotic twins. The twins ranged in age from 16 to 70 years at the time of assessment, had been separated during infancy, and had been raised apart in adoptive homes before being reunited in adulthood. Analyses indicated that reared-apart twins were similar in trait levels of ego development and that such similarity could not solely be attributed to measured similarity in cognitive ability, including verbal reasoning. Estimates of broad similarity for ego development (46%) were comparable to values reported for other major personality dimensions. Phenotypic variance in adult levels of ego development appears to have substantial genetic and environmental sources.

The Washington University Sentence Complete Test: Are the Two Halves Alternate Forms? Are the Female and Male Forms Comparable?

Evidence from 85 adult medical outpatients supported psychometric comparability of the 2 halves of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT) Form 81 and of the female and male forms of the SCT. There was slightly stronger internal consistency for the first versus the second half of the SCT. Each half correlated highly with the ogive total protocol rating and 36-item-sum rating. Intercorrelations of the 2 halves with external measures also suggested essentially equivalent relations. For the 30 identical items across gender, the median correlation between individual item ratings with the item-sum ratings was nearly equal for women and men. When the 6 nonidentical items were considered with the identical items, the median item-total correlation was slightly higher for men (45) than women (41). This difference was accounted for by the slightly larger variability in the mate subsample. Practically speaking, the 2 halves and the female and male forms may be used with minimal concern regarding psychometric comparability in similar medical outpatient settings.

Correlates of the MMPI-A Immaturity (IMM) Scale in an Adolescent Psychiatric Sample

The Immaturity ( IMM) scale was developed for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) to provide an objective measure of ego development or maturation. The present study examines the concurrent validity of the IMM scale based on a residential treatment sample of 66 adolescents, ages 13 through 18 years. Participants were administered the MMPI-A, the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a short form of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT), the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-2nd Revision (EOM-EIS-2), and standardized measures of intelligence and reading ability. The results of this study provide evidence of the concurrent validity of the IMM scale, and a number of correlate descriptors are reported for the IMM scale.

Ego Development in Fundamentalist and Nonfundamentalist Protestants

This study was designed to investigate the comparative ego development, religious orientation, and doctrinal beliefs of three Protestant groups: life-long fundamentalists (n=25), fundamentalist converts (n=25), and nonfundamentalist converts (n=25). Subjects from the Southern Baptist Church (fundamentalists) and United Methodist Church (nonfundamentalists) were used. Three instruments were employed: the Wiggins Content Scale of Religious Fundamentalism from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development, and Allport's Religious Orientation Scale. The fundamentalist and nonfundamentalist groups were doctrinally different; however, the groups did not differ in levels of ego development. The two fundamentalist groups scored higher on Allport's measure of intrinsic religious orientation. Methodological suggestions were made for future research of fundamentalists.

An investigation of the progressive sequence of ego development levels.

The progressive sequence of ego development levels as measured by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test was examined in relation to component scores on a construct identified from 12 objective measures related to ego development. The analysis was based on 229 adult subjects. The sequence of component scores for three groupings of ego development levels (Pre-Conformist, Conformist, and Post-Conformist) followed the predicted progression. Large standard deviations relative to the mean component scores for the groupings of ego development levels suggested overlap among the levels of ego development, which is consistent with the notion of décalage in developmental theory.

Ego Development: True or False?

Moving freely between theory and developmental descriptions and between stringent methodology and emergent hypotheses, Jane Loevinger's article bears the stamp of a great contributor to personality theory and measurement. This particular set of characteristics has been the trademark of her work. The result is a consistently increasing body of research based on the use of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT). Unquestionably, Jane Loevinger has profoundly influenced the study of personality and, through it, the entire field of psychology. To single out a few points for discussion-even when these points address fundamental issues-is to run the risk of placing a proper recognition of Loevinger's creativity too far into the background. Simple agreement, however, would undermine the very ethos that is so central to the theory of ego development: dialogue, recognition of divergent positions, and respect for contradictions. In that spirit, Loevinger, Kohlberg, Snarey, and I have had several exchanges about the nature of ego development theory and measurement over the past decade. I do not wish to continue that particular line of discussion because the positions have been clearly articulated in a number of publications (Loevinger, 1979, 1986, this issue; Noam, Kohlberg, & Snarey, 1983; Snarey, Kohlberg, & Noam, 1983). Rather, I shall address three issues that present themselves throughout Loevinger's work (including the target article) and in my own investigations. These issues allow me to extend our thinking within the constructivist paradigm and are central to my evaluation of ego development. I will use the following issues as the organizational principles for this commentary:

Ego development and individual differences in personality.

The relation between individual differences in personality and differences in developmental maturity was studied by relating observations of personality by multiple, independent judges to level of ego development. The personality characteristics of longitudinally followed Ss (104 at age 14; 98 at age 23) were evaluated by the California Adult Q-Set (CAQ); ego level was evaluated by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development (SCT). A priori personality dimensions--consisting of CAQ items for which a common developmental pathway was expected--were constructed and related to the SCT: (a) Ego-resiliency and interpersonal integrity were associated with increasing ego development, (b) conformity was associated with the Conformist level and, unexpectedly, to the Conscientious level, (c) need regulation was associated with the Conscientious level, and (d) self-ease and expressiveness-playfulness were not associated with ego level.

Psychometric Properties of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test

The psychometric properties of the two halves the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT) Form 81 were examined by comparing the fit of structural equation models representing parallel, tau-equivalent, and congeneric properties. Data for these models were based on item-sum scores for the two halves of the SCT and eight measures of aspects of ego development, the construct purportedly measured by the SCT. The data were from a sample of 265 adults. The results suggest that the parallel model provides both a parsimonious and good fit for the data. These results provide empirical justification for those users of the SCe who have the need for shorter, interchangeable, and reliable forms of the test.

Ego development in women with histories of sexual abuse

As many as a third of the women in this culture experience sexual abuse prior to reaching age 18. Recent literature and research have presented divergent views related to the impact of early abuse on ego development, with arguments supporting both ego fragmentation and ego acceleration. This preliminary study compared the level of ego development, as measured by Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT), of 30 women with histories of childhood sexual victimization, and 30 women with no history of abuse. Results indicated no significant difference between the ego levels of the sexually abused and nonabused groups, with a slight trend toward higher ego development in the abused group. Factors contributing to these findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are suggested.