NCJ Number
225172
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 37 Issue: 10 Dated: November 2008 Pages: 1178-1192
Date Published
November 2008
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This work examines two ego development arrest trajectories occurring in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
Abstract
This work sought to study participants with consistent Pre-conformist ego development levels during multiple adolescent assessments to determine whether and how their ego levels had changed at age 25. Those individuals whose ego levels remained at the Pre-conformist level were assigned to a life-course-persistent profound ego development arrest trajectory group; those whose ego levels reached the Conformist or Post-conformist level at age 25 were assigned to an adolescence-limited profound ego development arrest trajectory group. Data were derived from a longitudinal project that began in 1978, the full sample of which was deliberately constructed with the goal of capturing a broad range of psychosocial functioning. One group consisted of 76 adolescents drawn from a pool of 250 volunteers from the freshman class of a public high school. The second cohort consisted of 70 adolescents with impairments of sufficient severity to warrant admission to a private specialized child and adolescent psychiatric facility. The group was invited to participate once again as they reached age 25, early adulthood. Tables, references