Ego development and self-image complexity in early adolescence. Longitudinal studies of psychiatric and diabetic patients.
Ego development and multiple self-images were studied in nonpsychotic psychiatric patients, diabetic patients, and healthy high school students. The results reported are drawn from the first year of a four-year longitudinal project investigating the psychosocial development and family interactions of impaired and at-risk adolescents. Both groups of patients, especially the psychiatric group, were significantly lower in their ego development and showed less self-image complexity than the high school students. These findings are discussed both in terms of understanding developmental deviation in these two chronically ill groups, and as a strategy for investigating formulations being proposed in the new self-psychology framework.
D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000523:psychology*; D004532:Ego; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment