Predicting life satisfaction from psychoanalytic personality theory: An examination of ego integration, quality of object relations, and attachment style.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The primary goals of this study are to review the literature on psychoanalytic personality variables and subjective life satisfaction and to examine the power of several key psychoanalytic personality variables (ego integration, quality of object relations, and attachment style) to predict subjective life satisfaction.
The study begins with a review of the theoretical development of psychoanalytic personality theory. Empirical literature is presented on three personality theories: ego psychology, object relations theory, and attachment theory. The literature is then reviewed that indicates that these constructs matter because they play an integral role in determining an individual's felt quality of life. The more “psychologically healthy” an individual is, as measured by these constructs, the higher should be his or her subjective life satisfaction. While clinically assumed, very few empirical data are available to substantiate a link between key constructs of psychoanalytic theories and overall subjective satisfaction.
This study discusses the difficulty of measuring constructs considered largely unconscious and provides a rationale for the self-report measures selected. Data were collected from 104 university students and variables assessing ego integration, quality of object relations, and attachment style were entered into a multiple regression equation with subjective life satisfaction designated as the dependent variable. 36% of the variance in subjective life satisfaction was accounted for by the multiple regression analysis. Clinical implications of these findings are proposed, along with a discussion of the increasing emphasis in clinical/counseling psychology on building a “positive psychology” that seeks to understand the factors that promote human wellness and well-being. Limitations of the study are discussed, as well as recommendations for additional exploratory research.