Purpose. The purpose of this study was two-fold. One was to develop a measurement instrument of ego-identity in Korean youth, and the other to investigate the development of ego-identity in relation to their home environment, school adjustment and pee...
Purpose. The purpose of this study was two-fold. One was to develop a measurement instrument of ego-identity in Korean youth, and the other to investigate the development of ego-identity in relation to their home environment, school adjustment and peer relationship.
Method. The sample consisted of 235 middle school students, 227 high school students, and 236 college students in the Daejon area, and 115 juvenile delinquents in the Chungjoo reformatory. Three measurement instruments of ego-identity were developed by the present researcher. The first one was a Developmental Stage Scale of Ego-Identity, which was based on the Erikson's psychosocial development theory. The second one was a Component Factor Scale of Ego-Identity, which was measuring one's stability, goal-directedness, uniqueness of self, interpersonal role expectation, self-acceptance and self-assertiveness. The third one was a Status Classification Inventory of Ego-Identity, which was based on the Marcia's classification of Ego-Identity development status. The data were collected in cooperation with the classroom teachers and analyzed by such statistical methods as Pearson's product-moment correlation, analysis of variance, and factor analysis through the SPSS computer program.
Results. The first hypothesis, "The development of ego-identity in youth is significantly related to their home environment, school adjustment, and peer relationship," was confirmed. The second hypothesis, "There is a significant relationship between the development of ego-identity and age variable," was also confirmed. The third hypothesis, "There are significant differences in the development of ego-identity between normal adolescents and juvenile delinquents," was rejected. The three ego-identity scales developed by the investigator proved to be reliable instruments. The over-all coefficients of split-half reliability and test-retest reliability of the scales were greater than .80. It was also found that the three scales had acceptable factorial validity and moderate criterion-related validity.
Conclusion. On the basis of the findings, the researcher makes the following conclusions but cautions against attempts to generalize them widely because of the limitations of this study. First, the psychological milieu at home, school adjustment, and peer relationship were closely related to the development of ego-identity in youth. Particularly, school adjustment had a significant relation with ego-identity formation in youth. Second, the progress of ego-identity formation significantly differentiated the high school students from the middle school and the college students. The high school years seemed to be a critical period for the development of ego-identity in Korean youth. Third, the development status of ego-identity in the adolescents moved along from identity diffusion to identity achievement as years passed by. But one's developmental status of ego-identity varied in the subareas. fourth, measurement efforts should be diversified in order to understand and diagnose the development of ego-identity in youth well. For this purpose, the researcher developed three different types of ego-identity scales, which need further validation studies. Finally, there was no significant difference in the development of ego-identity between normal adolescents and juvenile delinquents. The finding suggests that the ego-identity variable can not be used as a criterion to tell the normal adolescent from the juvenile delinquent. However, further investigation is required to find out the reason why the two groups were not significantly different in the ego-identity development.