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

References

Akkoyun, Fusun. (2014). Research instruments: TA-related research instruments. https://itaaworld.org/research-instruments accessed 20 July 2019

Berne, Eric. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?. London: Corgi Books.

Berne, Eric. (1961). Transactional Analysis in psychotherapy - A systematic individual and social psychiatry. New York: Ballantine Books. https://doi.org/10.1037/11495-000

Ciucur, Daniel. (2013). The ego states and the Big Five personality factors. Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences, 78 (2013), pp. 581-585. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.04.355 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.04.355

Doelker, Richard E, Jr. & Griffiths, John. (1984). Development of an instrument to measure ego state functions and its application to practice. Transactional Analysis Journal, 14(2), 149-152. doi: 10.1177/036215378401400210 https://doi.org/10.1177/036215378401400210

Dusay, John M. (1972). Egograms and the "Constancy Hypothesis". Transactional Analysis Journal, 2(3), 37-41. doi: 10.1177/036215377200200313 https://doi.org/10.1177/036215377200200313

Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. (1940). A multiphasic personality schedule (Minnesota): Construction of the schedule. Journal of Psychology, 10, 249-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1940.9917000

Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley J. C. (1942). Manual for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Hay, Julie (1992) Transactional Analysis for Trainers Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill, (republished 1996) Watford: Sherwood Publishing

Heyer, Robert N. (1979). Development of a questionnaire to measure ego states with some applications to social and comparative psychiatry. Transactional Analysis Journal, 9(1), 9-19. doi: 10.1177/036215377900900103 https://doi.org/10.1177/036215377900900103

John, Oliver P., Naumann, Laura P., & Soto, Christopher J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five trait taxonomy - History, measurement and conceptual issues. In John, Oliver P., Robins, Richard W. & Pervin, Lawrence A (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 114-158). New York: The Guilford Press.

Kahler, T (1977) The Miniscript. In Barnes, G (ed) Transactional Analysis after Eric Berne New York: Harper's College Press Julie will add page nos

Kothari, C. R. & Garg, Gaurav. (2014). Research methodology: Methods and Techniques (3rd ed.). New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers.

Lee, Kibeom. & Ashton, Michael C. (2012). The H Factor of Personality - Why Some People are Manipulative, Self-Entitled, Materialistic, and Exploitive-And Why It Matters for Everyone. Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Loffredo, Donald A. & Harrington, Rick. (2012). Letter to the editor, Transactional Analysis Journal, 42(1), 93-96. doi:10.1177/036215371204200112 https://doi.org/10.1177/036215371204200112

Loffredo, Donald A., Harrington, Rick., Munoz, Martin K., & Knowles, Laura R. (2004). The Ego State Questionnaire-Revised, Transactional Analysis Journal, 34(1), 90-95, doi:10.1177/036215370403400110 https://doi.org/10.1177/036215370403400110

Loffredo, Donald A. (1998). The relationships among ego states, locus of control, and dogmatism. Transactional Analysis Journal, 28 (2), 171-173. doi:10.1177/036215379802800211 https://doi.org/10.1177/036215379802800211

McCrae, Robert R. & Costa, Paul T, Jr. (2008). The Five-Factor theory of personality. In John, Oliver P., Robins, Richard W. & Pervin, Lawrence A (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 159-181). New York: The Guilford Press.

Nettle, Daniel. (2007). Personality: What makes you the way you are. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan., Fredrickson, Barbara L., Loftus, Geoffrey R., & Lutz, Christel. (2014). Atkinson and Hilgard's introduction to psychology. (16th ed.). EMEA: Cengage Learning.

Sava, A. F. (2008). Inventarul de personalitate DECAS - Manual de utilizare. Timisoara: ArtPress

Schaeffer, Charles (1976) The development of a transactional analysis scale for the adjective check list. Journal of Psychology 94, 59-63 https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1976.9921396

Schultz, Duane P. & Schultz, Sydney E. (2013). Theories of personality. (10th ed.). India: Cengage Learning.

Stewart, Ian. & Joines, Vann. (1987). TA today. Nottingham, England and Chapel Hill, USA: Lifespace Publishing.

Temple, Susannah. (2015). Celebrating Functional Fluency and its contribution to Transactional Analysis theory. Transactional Analysis Journal, 45(1), 10-22. doi:10.1177/0362153714568803 https://doi.org/10.1177/0362153714568803

Thorne, Sylvia. & Faro, Sharyn. (1980). The Ego State Scale: A measure of psychopathology. Transactional Analysis Journal, 10(1), 49-52. doi:10.1177/036215378001000115 https://doi.org/10.1177/036215378001000115

Weiner, Irving B. & Greene, Roger L. (2008). Handbook of personality assessment. Hoboken, New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Williams, Kathryn B. & Williams, John E. (1980). The assessment of Transactional Analysis ego states via the Adjective Checklist. Journal of Personality Assessment, 44(2), 120-129. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4402_2

World Health Organization. (2019). Mental health in India. Retrieved from http://www.searo.who.int/india/topics/mental_health/about_mentalhealth/en/ accessed 20 July 2019