Ego Development and Adolescent Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study investigated ego developmental differences in adolescent academic orientations and academic achievement. A sample of 142 male and female high school students completed the Washington University Sentence Completion Test and self-report measures assessing academic locus of control, learning orientation (LO), and grade orientation (GO). With increasing ego development, adolescents demonstrated increased internal academic locus of control, stronger LOs, diminished GOs, and higher class rank. Regression analysis indicated that ego level was a significant predictor of academic achievement after controlling for the effects of verbal intelligence and gender. Implications for fostering academic success through theoretically relevant interventions are discussed. Loevinger (1976) conceptualized the ego as a unifying frame of reference that underlies all of our thoughts and actions; ego development is the process of gaining psychological maturity. Viewed as the master trait, ego development encompasses changes in impulse control and character, interpersonal relations, conscious preoccupations, and cognitive style. The model includes nine qualitatively distinct milestones of development, each representing increasingly mature organizations of the self and JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, 16(1), 1-18

Does Identity Precede Intimacy? Testing Erikson’s Theory on Romantic Development in Emerging Adults of the 21st Century

“…No relationships with partnership status, family status, or SES were found, neither at age 15 nor at age 24. Thus, our findings are in accordance with findings indicating that ego development consistently advances with age (Novy, 1993), typically moving from the conformist stage in adolescence (marked by the ascendance of identification with the group, adherence to group, and acceptance to authority; see Bursik & Martin, 2006) to stabilization in young adulthood at the self-aware and conscientious stages, when alternatives are considered and explored and thoughtful decisions are made (Cohn, 1998).…”

Adaptive and effortful control and academic self-efficacy beliefs on achievement: A longitudinal study of 1st through 3rd graders

“…Thus, we include both measures of ego-resiliency and observed effortful control in the present study. While the majority of research on ego-resiliency tends to focus on psychosocial adjustment, preliminary evidence indicates that ego-resiliency is also associated with early and later academic achievement in childhood and adolescence (Aken, 2006;Bursik & Martin, 2006;Kwok, Hughes, & Luo, 2007).…”

Being Close and Being Social: Peer Ratings of Distinct Aspects of Young Adult Social Competence

“…In our own data set, the correlation between ISS and TPR was found to be .89. The ISS as a continuous measure of ego development has been used extensively in the literature (e.g., Bursik & Martin, 2006;Kang & Shaver, 2004). The scoring guidelines have shown high levels of reliability (Loevinger & Wessler, 1970;Redmore & Waldman, 1975;Westenberg, Hauser, & Cohn, 2004).…”

“…Ego development is a template, or frame of reference, that an individual uses as a framework for his or her experiences and perceptions of the world, people, and events (Hauser, 1993;Loevinger & Wessler, 1970). Individuals can exist along eight stages of ego development, each stage representing a different level of social-cognitive maturity as it relates to relationships, impulse control, motivations, and cognitive style (Bursik & Martin, 2006). Lower levels of ego development include impulsive and self-protective styles, middle levels include conformist and conscientious styles, and higher levels include individualistic and integrated styles (Loevinger & Wessler, 1970).As individuals' ego development increases, they move from concrete understandings of people and events to an increased complexity of understanding (Hauser, 1993).…”