Perceived parental bonding, separation-individuation and ego development in adolescence
Abstract
Despite the potential to contribute to our understanding of adolescent psychological development, empirical investigations of parent-adolescent separation and ego development have been rare. The present study explored the relationship between perceived parental bonding, separation-individuation and ego development. Four hundred ninety adolescents ranging in age from 14 to 18 years, attending a suburban high school in Westchester, were selected from a larger longitudinal study of adolescent development and depression conducted by Pace University. In this study, ego development was measured by the Sentence Completion Test (Loevinger, Redmore and Wessler, 1970); psychological separation was assessed using the Psychological Separation Inventory (Hoffman, 1984); and perceived parental bonding was measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument (Parker, Tupling, and Brown, 1979). Significant findings include: (1) the greater the level of perceived mother and father Overprotection, the lower was the level of ego development; (2) the greater the level of perceived mother Care, the greater was the level of ego development; (3) greater functional and attitudinal dependence related to higher levels of ego development; (4) (a) greater functional independence was correlated with higher levels of perceived mother Overprotection, (b) greater attitudinal independence was correlated with higher levels of perceived father and mother Overprotection; (c) conflictual dependence was correlated with greater perceived level of mother and father Overprotection, (5) the less functionally, attitudinally, and emotionally independent, the higher was the level of perceived mother and father Care, and the more conflictually independent, the higher was the level of perceived mother and father Care. The results of this study may assist in the identification of adolescents' presenting problems through an understanding of their developmental issues.
Subject Area
Developmental psychology
Recommended Citation
Cifre, Maritza, "Perceived parental bonding, separation-individuation and ego development in adolescence" (1993). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI9400677.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI9400677
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