The expression of social evaluation fears during adolescence appears not atypical and might be a corollary of socio-cognitive maturation. At the same time, the natural presence of those fears during adolescence appears to constitute a vulnerability for developing a social anxiety disorder.

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).

The applicability of the Loevinger conception of ego development was explored for the period of early adolescence. Recent modifications of the earliest ego levels are summarized, and a new version of the measure is presented: the Sentence Completion Test for Children and Youth (SCT-Y). Questions were considered about the reliability and validity of this new instrument. The main question addressed was whether an oral administration would yield essentially different responses and significantly differing ego-levelscores as compared to the standard written administration in an early adolescent sample (9.5 through 15.5 years of age; N = 120). The results indicated that an oral administration of the SCT-Y did not yield essentially different responses or significantly differing ego-level scores, regardless of the respondent's age, gender, reading/writing skills, and preference for either presentation mode. The findings indicate that the revision of the ego development construct and measure for (early) adolescence does not seem to be an artifact of the written procedure.