Relationship between ego states and neuroticism among Indian males and females

Main Article Content

Vijay Gopal Sreenivasan
C Suriyaprakash

Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to explore the relationship between ego states of Transactional Analysis (TA) and Neuroticism of the Big Five Factor model of personality among Indian adults. A sample of 192 Indian adults (37% male, 63% female) were administered the Ego State Questionnaire-Revised (ESQ-R) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI).  Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to discover the relationships between ego states and Neuroticism. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between Neuroticism and the ego states of Critical Parent (CP) and Adapted Child (AC). There was a negative correlation between Neuroticism and the ego states of Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A) and Free Child (FC). (All correlations are significant at 0.05 level using a two-tailed test.) The degree of positive correlations of the CP and AC ego states with Neuroticism, were stronger than the degree of the negative correlations of their corresponding ego states i.e. NP and FC ego states. Among negatively correlated ego states, NP was most weakly correlated with Neuroticism for women but for men it was stronger. Similarly, FC was most weakly correlated with Neuroticism for men, but for women the relationship was stronger. Except for FC, all other ego states showed increased degrees of correlation with Neuroticism from the age group of 25-40 years to that of 41-56 years. Though there are limitations to this research, the findings are in line with TA theory and may have implications for how TA therapy is applied.

Article Details

How to Cite
Sreenivasan, V. G., & Suriyaprakash, C. (2019). Relationship between ego states and neuroticism among Indian males and females. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research & Practice, 10(2), 66–78. https://doi.org/10.29044/v10i2p66
Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Vijay Gopal Sreenivasan, South Asian Association of Transactional Analysts (SAATA)

Vijay Gopal Sreenivasan can be reached at vijay10gopal@gmail.com. This research project was conducted as part of his MA (Psychology) course of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNEOUS), New Delhi, India.

C Suriyaprakash, ITAA, SAATA

C. Suriyaprakash, Ph.D. is professor of Organisational Behaviour at Janson’s School of Business, and a Teaching and Supervising Organisational Transactional Analyst from Coimbatore, India. He can be reached at suriya.sunshine@gmail.com

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