IN TER CULT URAL CONCEPTIONS

OF

PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY*

AN EXPLORATQHY STUDY

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University

By

RITA MALONEY VERSACE, B.A., M.A.

The Ohio State University 1956

Approved by*

' Adviser ^apartment of Psychology ACKDOWLED GMENTS

The writer wishes to express appreciation to her advisor,

Doctor John E. Horrocks, for his encouragement and comments throughout the study; to Doctor Robert J. Wherry for his generous consultation and advice on the statistical analysis of the data; to the Soroptamist Club of Columbus whose grant partially aided in carrying out the study; to the professors and students in

France, Belgium, Italy, and the United States whose cooperation made the study possible; and to the staff members and graduate students who served as judges and otherwise assisted in the study.

ii TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I INTRODUCTION...... 1

Purpose...... 4 Questions to be Investigated...... 6 Hypotheses ...... 7

II THE CONCEPT CF PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY...... 8

General Disousslons of Maturity...... 12 Experimental Investigations of Maturity. . . . 24

III METHODOLOGY...... 33

Analysis...... 37

IV RESULTS...... 44

Reliability...... 44 Tests of Hypotheses...... 64 Faotor Analysis ...... 70

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND DISCUSSION...... 84

Conclusions...... 89 D i s c u s s i o n ...... 90

APPENDIX...... 105

QUESTIONNAIRES...... 112

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 129

iii LIST OF TABLES uBL FA GE

1 Description of Sample by Nationality, Age, 34 Sex, and Scholastic Standing

2 Inter-rater Reliability for Two Judges in 47- Assigning Descriptive ■'■terns to Minor 48 Categories

3 Summary of the Distribution of Inter-rater 49 Reliabilities for Five Judges Taken Two at at Time in Assigning Minor Categories to 11 Major Categories

4 Test-retest Reliability for Five Judges in 51 Assigning Minor Categories to Major Categories

5 Inter-rater Reliability in Assigning 60 Descriptive Cultural Items to Cultural Categories

6 Differences between Relative *roporoion of 66 Responses in Individual Major Categories for the American and European Samples and their Significance Level

7 Differences between Relative Proportion of 67 Responses in Individual Minor Categories having a Rank-order Difference of 20 or more for the American and European Samples and tneir Significance Level

8 Differences between Relative Proportion of 71 Responses in those Cultural Categories Con­ taining 20 or more Responses for American and European Samples and their Significance Level

9 Observed Intercorrelations between Major 73 Cate gar ies

10 Observed Intercorrelations between Minor 74- Categories end Major Categories 75

11 Corrected Intercorrelauions between Major 76 Categories

12 Corrected Intercorrelations between Minor 77- Categories and Major Categories 78

13 Residuals 81

Unrotated Factor Loadings 82

iv V

TABLE PAGE

15 Rotated factor Loadings 83

16-27 Inter-rater Reliability for Rive Judges 106- in Assigning Minor Categories to.Major 111 (Categories / L IST OF icjUEST10 1'JAIRES

CiUESTIOIfi'iAiRE PACE

1 Conceptions of Psychol qyical Maturity 113 (English)

2 Conceptions of Fsychological Maturity 116 (French) 3 3 Conceptions of Psychological Maturity 119 (Ital ian )

4 Rating of Maturity Statements 122

vi CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

For some time, psychologists have concerned themselves with problems of man's adjustment* One result of this concern has been the many studies which make possible a description of qualities characteristic of a "normal," "well-adjusted" individual. Beyond the notion of adjustment to present conditions lies the question of

constructive living, of contributing to the advancement of society,

of leading a satisfying, happy life, and of adding to the happiness and well-being of others. These concepts might well be said to describe the activities of persons whom society considers as mature.

What is meant by a "mature individual" as distinguished from an

immature individual or one lacking in maturity? Psychologists have

attempted to answer this question as they have the question of what

is adjustment. Investigation of the references in the Psycholcgical

Abstracts (thirty-seven within the past ten years) plus the many dis­

cussions of maturity in psychological textbooks indicates the quantity

and quality of psychology's contribution to an understanding of those

aspects of behavior known as maturity.

One finds in the references mentioned above, general discussions,

particularly by well-known psychologists, which give some components

of maturity as the psychologists have gleaned them through their own

1 practical experience. Besides these, one finds some experimental investigations of restricted aspects of maturity, such as emotional maturity or social maturity. These two approaches may be considered as divergent means of arriving at an operational definition of maturity, since both describe behavior. A general definition may be constructed from the general discussions of maturity by listing all the components of maturity as given by "experts." These could then be analyzed as

Tindall (44) analyzed adjustment indices. This has not been done, however. Inherent in the investigation of restricted aspects of maturity

is the hope that as eaoh aspect is carefully studied, eventually a genera!

definition together with behavioral manifestations can be formulated.

The writer was unable to discover any experimental investigations de­

signed primarily to determine the behaviors which maturity connotes.

Reasons for the lack of this type of experimental investigation

of maturity may lie in the complexity of the concept. First of all,

there are no simple biological correlates of this state. In general,

one might assume that a person to be psychologically mature should first

have reached puberty. Yet, many times a physiologically immature person

will exhibit aspects of behavior which most people would consider manure.

Secondly, psychological maturity does not occur as a function of

time as does physical maturation and may, in fact, never occur.

Thirdly, a person may be considered mature in one area, for example,

in assuming job responsibility, and yet be considered quite immature

in another area, as for example, in heterosexual relationships.

Fourthly, maturity does not appear to be an underlying personality

urait which when one attained is permanent. Rather, it would seem 3 more likely to be a characteristic specific to given situations similar to the findings of Hartshorns and May (16) with regard to honesty*

And, finally, at this point there are no ways of measuring a person's over-all psychological maturity. Horrocks (25, p.703) points out this difficulty and others in his disucssion of the at­ tainment of psychological maturity as an end of adolescence:

Psychologically and chronologically adolescence ends with the attainment of a consistent and comparatively widespread level of maturity. The development of suoh maturity is a slow process, and there now exists no means whereby it is possible to measure whether an individual has attained such a level* It is ordinarily assumed that most individuals have attained at least a moderate degree of psychological maturity by the time they are in the early twenties and that they are then adults rather than adolescents* For some people, however, psychological maturity never does arrive, with the result that they extend their adolescence throughout their later years.

Horrocks' use of the term "psychological maturity" which he defines as "attainment of a consistent and comparatively widespread level of maturity" is to be noted. This term is used throughout the present study and is considered to include all aspects of maturity elsewhere referred to as social maturity, emotional maturity, and the like.

Despite the difficulties involved in conducting research on psychological maturity, there still appears to be a need for suoh

research. In every field, there is a demand for mature individuals—

industry, education, the home, among religious leaders, in civic

positions, as well as in the armed services, in civilian defense and

the like* One of the main goals of education is to produce individuals 4 who can take their place in society as nature persons, translating

effectively idiat they have learned into responsible, meaningful

action. Robinson (37, p. 250) indicates that maturity is a major

problem which persons bring to the counseling interview, lie points

out that while increasing maturity is one of the aims of counseling,

"little research is available on how to increase maturity."

In the writer's opinion, one of the first steps in the needed

research on psychological maturity, is a research-derived definition

of the concept. With some awareness of what people mean when they

speak of maturity, further investigations can then be made.

Purpose

This, then, is the purpose of the present research: (a) to

seek a universally used comprehensive behavioral definition of

psychological maturity in terms of the qualities commonly considered

to comprise it, (b) to detect any differences in the qualities em­

phasized by members of two different cultures, and (c) to identify

cultural factors which are commonly considered to influence the

growth of psychological maturity.

Three assumptions may be used in seeking a definition. One

may assume that the term discussed represents a reality which

has an a priori existence of its own ana that the definition de­

scribes this entity. Or, one may assume the definition, describe

the class to which the term belongs, and then differentiate it

from other members of its class. Often such a prooess yields a

formal, philosophio understanding yet at the same time may be a

sterile process from the point of view of "indicating any connection

between the things defined and experience." (35, p. 18). A third 5 assumption (which is the one used in the present study) is that a term is used to desoribe certain experiences which are common to many persons* The definition is a way of enumerating these experiencesj

the term is simply the label given to them to convey their meaning*

In this way, we learn what it is specifically that is meant when the

term maturity is used*

In seeking suoh a definition of psychological maturity, the

sample from which the data is gathered is of prime importance* A

representative sample of persons, comparable from culture to culture

and in sufficient numbers to sake comparisons is the most desirable

type of sample from which to determine commonly held, universal opinions

of the characteristics of psychological maturity. While oomparable

samples in sufficient numbers oan be obtained without too much dif­

ficulty, it is well beyond the means of the present study to locate

a representative sample*

An alternate method for arriving at a valid definition is

through the use of a sanple of persons who have been identified as

mature. Suoh a process is out of the question since we do not know

its characteristics and therefore do not nave the means by which to

measure maturity. The best that can be done, then, is to select a

group which is generally assumed to be mature. This has been done

in the present study*

Groups of young adults in their early twenties about whom it

is ordinarily assumed that they "have attained at least a moderate

degree of psychological maturity*1 (25, p.703) are the samples from

whom commonly held conceptions of psychological maturity were obtained* 6

While young adults lack the experience wfoloh older persons have, srtill their recency in developing psychological maturity may add a certain keenness of awareness to their descriptions. Perhaps, too, they are at an age level which is most conoerned with questions of maturity. This age level has dther advantages for research purposes.

Datafrom comparable groups in sufficient numbers can be readily ob­ tained from various countries through the cooperation of the educa­ tional systems.

Questions to be Investigated

The questions proposed for investigation in this study are*

(1) What are the components of psychological maturity as it is seen by young adults from the United States and several Europe an countries?

(2) Do young adults from these countries differ in their conceptions of psychological maturity?

(3) What are the major cultural factors which young adults from the United States and several European countries con­ sider influential in the growth of psychological maturity?

(4) Do young adults from these countries differ in the cultural factors they conceive influential in the growth of psychological maturity?

David Riesman (36) has characterized three ways in which

cultures at various stages of population growth achieve conformity.

These ways he terms "tradition-directed, inner-direoted, and other-

directed." In the tradition-directed person, conformity (p. 26)

tends to be dictated to a very large degree by power relations among the various age and sex groups, the clans, castes, professions, and so forth— relations which have endured for centuries and are modified but slightly, if at all, by successive generations.

For the inner-directed person (p. 29), "the source of direction

for the individual is ’inner’ in the sense that it is implanted early 7 in life by the elders and directed toward generalized but nonetheless inescapably destined goals•"

What is ooramon to all the other-direoted people is that their contemporaries are the source of direotion for the individual— either those known to him or those with whom he is indirectly acquainted, through friends and through mass media*..This mode of keeping in touch with others per­ mits a cloee behavioral conformity, not through drill in behavior itself, as in the tradition-directed oharacter, but rather through an exceptional sensitivity to the actions and wishes of others (p* 37)

Riesman characterizes the American as the other-direoted type of

person* The present study raises a further question to investigate

this assumption of Riesman:

(5) Is the quality of other-directedness evidenced more in the Ame rican than in the European view of psychological maturity?

Hypotheses

These questions are restated in hypothesis form and rest on severa

assumptions. First, since this study concerns itself in part with

finding out whether conceptions of psychological maturity are cultural­

ly relative, it is assumed that there are differences between the

American and the European culture* The opinion of Riesman that other-

direotedness is a distinguishable trait is also assumed to be true*

Those questions being proposed for investigation aro stated in terms

of the following three hypotheses:

I* Young adults from several European countries and the United States diffor in their conceptions of psychological maturity*

II. The quality of other-directedness will appear as signifi­ cantly greater for the American than for the European as rep­ resented in this study*

III* Young adults from several European countries and the United States differ in the cultural factors they conceive influential in the growth of maturity* CHAPTER II

THE CONCEPT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY

The term "maturity” suggests a person who has reached his full stage of development* The word itself— from the Latin maturus— means ripe or seasonable and is defined by Webster as "brought by natural process to completeness of growth and development; fully grown; ripe; of or pertaining to a condition of full development; as, a man of mature years*" The English word, "maturity" is used more in reference to persons while the word "ripe" is more com­ monly used to refer to foods* The same distinction is true for the

French and Italian uses of the words. The French word mur is used exclusively to refer to foods, the word maturite, to human behavior*

The Italian word maturo is used in the first sense of the word; maturita, in the second. This distinction was taken into account in the translated questionnaires used in the present study.

we can readily understand what it means to 6ay that a person

"has reached his full 6tage of development" when we think of physical

growth. What do we mean, though, when we say a person has reached psychological maturity?

This chapter discusses the writer's view of psychological maturity as a concept. It then examines the ways in which psycholo­

gists and others have generally discussed the concept. Finally, it

8 9 reviews and discusses the experimental investigations which, have been made of various aspects of psychological maturity.

Following the general orientation of present-day American psychology, the writer views psychological maturity as a concept which describes a learned behavior. No assumption is made that maturity is something whioh has real existence in itself. Bather, it is assumed that adults tend generally to exhibit certain kinds of behavior, which in contrast to other types of behavior may be de­ signated as psychologically mature. Since one of the aims of the present study is to find specifially what these behaviors are and

in this sense to define psychological maturity, this discussion

limits itself to some general considerations of the concept of maturity.

To the writer, it seems important to distinguish maturity from

some other behavioral concepts, suoh as adjustment and conformity.

These two concepts are quite similar. Probably they may be distin­

guished on the basis that adjustment conveys more of a psychological

emphasis; conformity, more of a social emphasis. Use of the term

adjustment may imply an ability of she individual to adapt himself

to existing conditions without any attempt to evaluate those conditions

with consequent effort to change them if necessary. In this instance,

adjustment and conformity are synonymous. When adjustment is used

in this sense, it does not mean maturity. In fact from this point

of view, the mature person may at times be considered maladjusted,

not in the sense of implying pathology but in uhe sense of not

agreeing with the average or norm. The mature man may refuse to 10 adjust himself to existing conditions, having evaluated those con­ ditions as "maladjustive." For example, the adjusted office worker

or graduate student may be considered the one who always has time

for social gatherings; the maladjusted person then becomes the one who spends most of his time working or studying. Yet, is it not the

maladjusted person in this sense who is actually maturely fulfilling

his goal?

Similarly, conformity alone is not maturity. When the main

emphasis in a person’s life becomes that of fitting in with behaviors

expected by a given group, such a person is not mature. However,

because psychological maturity is learned behavior, it will express

itself in many respects whioh do conform to the norms of society.

For, what is called maturity is behavior which has shown itself to

be of value in society and is therefore perpetuated and commended

by society. Yet, maturity is not simply the conformity to social

norms. The individual because of his unique person characteristics

is capable ol' rising above, so to speak, existing social norms.

Maturity then goes beyond both conformity and adjustment and embraces

also those far-seeing individuals who are the non-conformists of

their own age yet who are instrumental in bringing about conditions

which add to the well-bein0 of their fellowmen in a later age. While

the mature person may often conform to social customs, he will quite

readily stand out against them if necessary. As Cowley (7, p. 342)

point s out:

Mature or integrated people are not "adjusted" people. They are people who are intelligently about the work of ordering life and harmonizing it on an ever higher soale of human excellence. They are not conformists; they are reconst ruoti onist s. 11

While including then both adjustment and conformity, psycholo­ gical maturity seems to imply an active, evaluating, orientation.

How does a person learn to be mature? While not discussing this question directly, G. Allport, F. Alexander, and Maslow mention certain psychological conditions neoessary for growth in maturity.

Allport (3, p.32) emphasizes the importance of security:

All in all a generous minimum of security seems required in early years for a start toward a productive life-style. Without it the individual develops a pathological crav­ ing for security, and is less able than others to tolerate setbacks. In an affectionate environment he learns more readily to accept himself, to tolerate the ways of the world, and to handle the conflicts of later life in a mature manner.

Similarly, Maslow (31) develops the thesis that acceptance in an affectionate environment is neoessary for mature development.

F. Alexander (1) points out the most important mechanism in

the development of a mature ego is identification. He maintains

that through identification the individual gradually arrives at

independence, which is an important attribute of maturity.

In speaking of the way in whioh a person learns to be mature,

in general, one might say that a person grows in maturity as he

faces and successfully handles situations with which he is faced

daily. Psychological maturity in -chis sense is a dynamic quality,

an ongoing process rather than a static state, as Frank (14) points

out. From this point of view, Kahn (26) suggests that the term

"maturing" whioh carries the idea of moving forward be substituted

for maturity which indicates having arrived at a "dead end." 12

More specifically, liavighurst and Taba (17) list three ways in which to account for the growth of character which seem to the writer to account equally as well for the development of psychological maturity. They are: through reward and punishment, through imitation- first unsconscious and later conscious— and through reflective thinking.

All of these imply that psychological maturity is learned through experience; that it is not a biological trait which grows according to a fixed developmental sequence such as growth in height.

In summary, the writer views psychological maturity as a con­ cept implying learned behavior. it is a dynamic, ongoing process, an active, evaluating, orientation to life which implies continuous facing of reality. It may at times denote adjustment and conformity because both of these terms imply tho social environment through which psychological maturity is learned. Yet, it is some tiling more than either of these two concepts. It is a product not only of social environment but also of the individual's unique personality character­ istics which may at times cause him to stand out against society in a constructive sense.

General biscussions of futurity

One finds general discussions of maturity— based presumably on years of professional experience with human beings— in the writings of many psychologists and others. Following are some selected re­ ferences which indicate the types of oeiiavior which these persons consider mature behavior.

F. Alexander (l) in his discussion of maturity emphasizes independence and tne possession of a sense of discipline which is 13 very little dependent on coercion* he compares the healthy ego— the term mature person might veil be used instead— to a democratic government whioh permits a hearing of the various interests and meets conflicting interests by mediation and compromise. In this

latter respeot, a similarity will be noted to Allport's and Sheldon's

notions of maturity involving the ability to tolerate conflict.

Gordon Allport (2) devotes a chapter to a discussion of "The

Mature Personality." In this chapter, Allport gives ^hree general

criteria of maturity» 1) a variety of autonomous interestsJ that is,

the person can lose himself in work, in contemplation, in recreation,

and in loyalty to others; 2) self-objectifioation or insight whioh is

bound in subtle ways with the sense of humor; and 3) an integrative

factor, namely, a unifying philosophy of life.

In a later book, Allport (3, pp. 29, 32, 46, 79, 94) mentions

other facets of maturity!

1* Indeed, a mark of maturity seems to be the range and extent of one's feelings of seli-involvement in abstract ideals.

2. Maturity, we feel, means vh&z we should become aware of and in some way partner to, all the discordant conditions of our own existence. (The mature person should have)... the possibility of an ideal course of development wherein conflicts are managed, commitments maintained, and life coura­ geously ordered without recourse to self-deception.

3. ...the healthy person in possession of normal intelligence, insight, and emotional maturity knows he cannot solve life's problems by wishful thinking or cure his own partialness by fictionizing.

4. The young child's striving is directed toward the immediate object, an object to eat, to play with, en­ joy, avoid, or to love. The striving is impulsive, transitory, unreflective, and not referred to self. Ify oontrast, mature striving is linked to long-range goals. 14

While Allport and others, as will be seen, mention responsibility as one aspect of maturity, Cole and Bruce (6, pp. 672, 674, 680) identify maturity witn responsibility, though they qualify what they mean by responsibility.

The true badge of intellectual and emotional maturity is the ability and the will go undertake responsibility for one*8 own development. Maturity is not a process that ends at some one point.

WhaG the responsiDilicy Tor one's cwn development is may be discerned from Cole and Bruce's discussion of the ways go escape tnis responsibility.

...conforming, rationalizing, keeping everlastingly busy which leaves no time for reflection (anesthesia of work), blame shifting, beliGtling, cynicism, solace of supporting com­ pany, excibemenGs and pleasures so intense as go suppress the voice of the super-ego, fantasy of perfect love, sal­ vation through self-denial and flight.

At first glance, horney's (23, p.242) criteria of the healthy mature personality seem to be synonymous with Cole and Bruce's for she sums up maturity as "the attainment of che capacity to assume responsibility for oneself.” Yet, when she elaborates her view, it is seen to oonGain many of the same characteristics mentioned by others x

The healthy person feels that he is the active, responsible force in his life; he is capable of making decisions and takes the consequences of those decisions. Associated with this is a feeling of responsibility toward others; he is ready to recognize obligations to those in whose value he believes— relatives, friends, associates, the community, or country.

A second attribute of the mature parson is inner in­ dependence. The individual is able to establish his own hierarchy of values and applies it to his living. He respects the individuality of others, and their rights, thus establishing the basis for a real mutuality. 15

Finally, Hornay states that tha most comprehensive formulation of "the nature person would be* wholeheartedness. This means

to be without pretense, to be emotionally sincere, to be able to put the whole of oneself into one's feeling, one's work, one s beliefs. It can be approximated only to the extent that conflicts are resolved.

Leta hollingworth (20, p. 212) in various of her writings has discussed maturity in the following ways:

...the adequate adult is able, in the first place, to sustain himself or herself physically. This means economic competence, he is in a condition to wait upon himself or to pay directly for the service of others...intellectually the adequate adult arrives at his own opinions and follows his own conclusion in handling life'6 difficulties.

In another context, (20, p. 207) she points out that

In the ancient pubic ceremonies many of the most oonspicuous tests of maturity (of fitness for man­ hood or womanhood) were tests of capacity to suffer. Both physical and mental hardships were inflicted as ordeals*..We see, therefore, the savage's recogni­ tion of the fact that suffering is one of the car­ dinal experiences of adult life, and the implication of the pubic ordeals is that emotional maturity con­ sists in fortitude.

Elsewhere (21) she states that the mature person is able

to meet disappointments and hardship, to avoid lamenta­ tions of self-pity...to inhibit appetite. He must have displaced himself, in his thinking, from the center of the universe. He must not be a darling or a pet of any kind. Most important of all is the achieving of a point of view or a philosophy of life.

In another place (22, pp. 902-903) she describes the mature person as one who

is capable of partial response, whereas the immature gives all-or-none reaction; the mature person can delay an overt, emotional response, while the immature person cannot wait; the mature person gives an integrated Re­ sponse, his emotional reaction having reference to total character, while the child reacts in a fragmentary manner. 16

Horrocks (24) gives an operational definition of maturity as follows:

1* ability to accept deferred satisfactions

2. Acceptance of responsibility (a) toward self, (b) toward others

3. ability for self-criticism

4* well-defined remote goals

5. an understanding of the relationship between what is real and what is ostensible

6* cooperativeness

7. appraisal of reality

8. self-concept

9. sensitivity

10• objectivity

Sheldon (38, p. 22) relates maturity to the way in which a person

handles the conflicts of life:

The maturest minds are mature not because they have eliminated conflict but because they have elevated it to intellectual levels. At these higher levels con­ flict becomes tolerance, suspended judgment, nhe back and forth play of ideas...The human problem of conflict does not lie in resolution, but in comprehension and toleration of it.

Symonds (43, p. 385) equates normality, adjustment, and maturity.

His uescriptions of normality are what others might consider charac­

teristics of maturity.

Normality can be thought of as the goal to be achieved in adjustment in maturity. It is probably more helpful to think of pathological conditions in an individual as fixations, regression, and immature functioning. The abnormal person is simply one who has not grown up. 17

Symonds (43, pp. 387-399) lists twelve criteria of good adjust­ ment, normality, or maturity:

1. Integration - freedom from inner conflict.

2. Ego-development - effective intelligence. The well- adjusted person is one who has learned to apply his in­ telligence to the effective solution of the problems of living.

3. Acceptance of reality - implies that the person re­ cognizes the reality and inevitability of lite conditions to which he must adjust and that the most important kind of reality which must be faced and accepted is the drives, fears, and inadequacies within the self.

4. Responsibility for self - implies ability to manege oneself and make decisions with a minimum of worry, con­ flict, and advice-seeking, or in a word, independence.

5. Emotional expression - includes happiness and pleas­ ure in life, subjective sense of well-being, relaxation, ability to love, to show anger and the like. This cri­ terion of maturity does not exclude but rather implies the possession of self-control.

6. Social relationships - implies an ability to live with others and enjoy social contacts and interests. It is a sign of maturity for object love to take the place of selfish love, that is, for one to love others for themselves and not merely for the advantage it may bring him. These social relationships includei good rapport with others, not being too unlike the group in which one lives, recognition of others, capacity to enjoy society of the other sex, extroversion rather than introversion.

7. Consistency of personality - the maintaining of a course without deviation.

8. Adaptability - this quality counterbalances the last mentioned and implies a degree of flexibility, plasticity, suggestibility; that a course is not held too rigidly and inflexibly in the face of unsurmountable obstacles•

9. Emotional perception of the world - implies a view that the world is a warm, friendly place inhabited by pleasant, friendly, benevolent people.

10. Capacity to refrain from self-injury. 18

11* Ability to accept love - along with the capacity to love others*

12. Adequate drive - whioh is based on possession of health and vigor.

Washburn (46) approaches the study of maturity through a person's wishes and impulsions. His experimental findings will be presented later. In one of his theoretical discussions, which is probably based on his experimental work, he brings out certain as­ pects of maturity*

•••the wishes of the immature person are likely to be either definite and trivial, or vague and general, whereas the wishes of more mature persons are likely to be clearly differentiated and specific but at the same time to have broad, general implications•..in­ creasing complexity and subtlety of emotional re­ sponse*..are also characteristic of increasing maturity. The mature, experienced person's typical emotional reactions have over-tones arising from association with past experiences. Sometimes these overtones tend to intensify his emotional response...and sometimes they tend to dilute his emotional response...Emotional maturity in­ volves both the differentiation and the refinement of the emotions on the one hand, and their organization or co­ ordination under rational control - their increased ap­ propriateness to external reality - on the other hand; moreover, emotional health involves the vigor and re­ silience of the emotions themselves as well as of the organic processes affected by emotional reaction.

Dysinger's (9) discussion of maturity in vocational planning is similar to Washburne's description of the specificity of wishes of the mature person*

The development from immaturity to maturity in voca­ tional planning may be thought of as falling into four phases, though there are many variations and the phases are not discrete. These phases are phantasy, general preparation, and speoific preparation.

In a symposium on the concept of maturity, the participants viewed maturity from the anatomical, physiological, and psychological 19 points ov view. The psychological point of view was taken by

Wechsler (49) and was defined by him in terms of mental abilities.

He states t

As regards intellectual abilities, one o&n define maturity operationally as the attained level of psychological functioning beyond which measures of performance no longer increase significantly with age. This definition circumvents, to oe sure, the question of integration as an aspect of maturity but it only re­ states, 1 believe, the assumption underlying most ob­ jective measures of intellectual functioning, at least as regards specific abilities.

Frank (14) in his introduction to the symposium, used the term

maturity in a manner somewhat similar to the way psychological matu­

rity is used in the present study. For him maturity is an "ongoing,”

dynamic process in which the organismgoes through sucoessivetrans­

formations. As he says,

...the concept of maturity may be found useful as im­ plying this ongoing process which is revealed partially in what we call indices of growth and development, of involution and aging. Maturation, however, merits recognition and study as implying a dynamic operation which has no terminal point or fixed norms but is con­ tinuously and progressively at work. Through maturation, the organism-personality persists, but also changes so that we might conceive of maturation as a series of suc­ cessive transformations through time. The organism-per- sonality persists by successive transformations of structure, function, behavior, emotions, whereby he con­ tinues to live and oarry on his various life activities but with continually changing patterns and dimensions.

A. Meyer (32, pp. 156, 164, 168), in agreement with Kahn and

Frank, sees maturity as a process rather than a state. He points

out that the extent of an individual's maturity may be determined

according to his

particular degree of dependability, independence, and ripeness to steer his own course. 20

The concept of maturity suggests a capacity for self- government and sell'-dependence, and a satisfying balance between the demands of one's own nature and the demands of society.

Evidence of maturity may oe found in self-maintenance in work, play, and rest as well as in poise, in composure, and in activity. To be able to discriminate, to choose, and to decide, with the implication of rejecting that which has not been chosen, is a characteristic of maturity.

The mature adult possesses a sense of difference between fantasy and reality.

We bo^in to think of.•.maturity in terms of the degree of self-dependence which may be expected. Vuith this goes the additional factor of self-evaluation, the...assertion of independence and individualism within the social group. Stability, as well as a capacity to meat emergencies, demands a degree of maturity doth in the person and in the situation.

Judgment or insight, as a type of imagination and symboliza­ tion, is an attribute of the mature being, who can balance his expectations against his reality-oriented perceptions. The emotionally mature individual is capable of non- sexual, affectionate behavior in addition to enjoying an adult sex life. The concept of maturity implies a ca­ pacity to accept (l) the unpleasant incidents of lift which are beyond the individual's control, (2) the in­ dividual's own self and uniqueness, as well as perfections and imperfections in others, and (3) the give and take of social life, including criticism and authority.

Maturity, then, brings a philosophy of objectivity about the past, balanced by a vision of creative opportunity for the present and the future. This social self-guidance is based on insight and foresight and a helpful type of "hind­ sight11 or capacity to ubs the past, not merely to suffer from it. These three combine as a forward-looking conscience in tne modern sense of i;he word. Probably its severest test is the capacity to create and to participate in coopera­ tive ventures, based on understanding others and on making oneself understood. Cooperation, in contrast to domination, is literally a capacity for increasing interest in common ground and for lessening insistence on one-sided differ­ ences and digressions of opinion.

Maeder (30) outlines several oriteria of maturity which he ex­ plains at length. To be mature, "a person must be a man of action, 21 experience, responsible realism, and of complete, warm object re­ lationships •" Maeder's use of the quality "a man of action" is opposed to that of passivity which Bromberg (4) and Fisher (12) state characterizes the emotionally immature individual. By this term, Maeder means that the mature person is marked by action in all spheres, such as thought, judgnent, sax, work, play, and social re­ lationships, which are "self-initiated, purposive, well-directed and controlled, coordinated in orientation to the outside world, and at­ tained to accomplishment as related to average aims and ambitions."

To be a man of experience means for ^aeder that the mature in­ dividual has profited from a full living through each of the stages of development and that he selectively retained and discarded quali­ ties according to their usefulness for successive periods of develop­ ment .

Responsible realism indicates realistic ideals, an adequate

superego and ego-ideal, responsibility in the sense of self-depen­

dency, responsibility for one's own actions whether they be sucoesses

or failures, seeing oneself and the world as it really is and viewing

things objectively and honestly as they are.

Havin^ complete, warm object relationships implies that the per­

son is realistic as regards his emotions, giving his regard, affection,

and love where they are merited, that he experiences guilt, remorse,

and sorrow only in relation to proper occasions and in proper amount

and duration, that he has a healthy, controlled anxiety reaction;

that he is not easily diverted from his aims, that he meets situations

with constructive action, defense, or retreat adapted to the realistic 22 state of affairs and finally that he relates fully and warmly to other persons*

Several writers, while seeming to confine their consideration of maturity to emotional maturity only, include some of the charac­ teristics mentioned by others in a general discussion of maturity*

Bromberg (4), for example, contrasts emotional maturity and im­ maturity. As he sees it, maturity implies the acceptance of the realities of life, the breakdown of infantile fantasy aims, and the transition from infantile and adolescent emotional interests to the objects of adulthood* The lack of assimilation of authority and its resultant disturbances in behavior patterns is symptomatic of im­ maturity. Beneath 'che altitudes of arrogance toward authority are stron,, needs for dependence and passivity whioh are concealed by

overt antagonism. The immature adolescent equates masculinity with aggression and femininity with passivity. The acceptance of pro­ hibitions and the capacity to endure frustration are necessary for emotional maturity.

In fisher's (12) clinical description of emotional immaturity,

one notes a similarity to Bromberg's discussion:

Emotional immaturity manifests itself clinically with a strong component of passivity, which is utilized by the patient for the manipulation of others and as an aggressive weapon. Areas of emotional immaturity can be strong driving forces toward self-fulfillment and socialization.

Solomon (39) describes the basic features of emotional maturity as he sees them:

The first mark of emotional maturity is independence (emotional independence from parents)...the second mark is realism which lies between over-optimism and over-pessimism and the third is self-control which gradually increases. 23

Lindemann and Greer (29) while entitling their article

"Emotional Maturity," aotually disouss their topic in a much broader sense. It may be that they, as do others, equate psychological maturity with emotional maturity. Thus, they state,

A mature person will be (l) reasonably content (2) able to perform appropriate tasks (3) able to live through ordinary stress without disintegrating and (4) not have to make others sick or impair their capacity to live happily and productively, and (5) beyond his private interests he will be deeply conoerned with a cause to which he is devoted in teamwork.

Maturity is reaohed through a succession oi stages attained with difficulty and reduced to a residual step in the larger integration of growth.

It is evident from consideration of the foregoing discussions that while there are differences in expression and terminology, there are many areas of agreement as to the meaning of maturity*

At the same time, there are widely differing views, such as that relating to conflict, for example. Allport mentions the ability to tolerate conflicts as one aspect of maturity and Sheldon goes so far as to equate this ability with maturity. Symonds. stresses that maturity means a freedom of inner conflict while homey states that maturity can only be approximated to the extent that conflicts are resolved.

On the following page is a list summarizing the most obvious areas of agreement among the various discussants of maturity. 24

Characteristic of Maturi Writers who Piscuss Characteristic

Responsibility Allport, Cole and Bruce, Horrocks, Symond Homey

Long-range Goals Allport, Hollingworth, Horrocks, Symonds

Reality-oriented Allport, Hollingworth, Horrocks, Symonds, Meyer, Bromberg, Solomon

Emotional Responsiveness Hollingworth, Symonds, Washburne, Meyer

Adaptability Shaffer, Symonds

Independence Hollingworth, Symonds, Homey, Mayer, Solomon

Self-concept Horrocks, Maeder, Meyer

Decision-making Homey, Symonds

Experience Meyer, Maeder

Self-control Alexander, Solomon

Objectivity Horrocks, Lindeman and Green, Meyer

Activity vs. Passivity Horney, Maeder, Bromberg, Fisher

Process vs. State Wechsler, Strong, Kahn, Frank, Meyer

This examination of characteristics of maturity as they appear

in representative writings of psychologists and others emphasizes the need to arrive at a clear definition of the concept*

Experimental Investigations of Maturity

The experimental investigations of maturity, few in number, have focused on particular aspects of maturity. As far as the writer could determine, these were limited to studies of social,

emotional, or interest maturity. The majority of these studies are descriptions of measuring instruments for a given aspect of maturity.

These instruments were constructed to measure the particular author's 25 definition of maturity. In this sense, they do not represent ex­ perimental attempts to find out what maturity is. There are, however,

one or two studies which experimentally test hypotheses of one or the

other aspect of maturity and one study seeks a functional description

of emotional immaturity. These will be discussed in this seotion.

Doll (8, p. 1) was one of the early persons concerned with

social maturity in his well-known work with the mentally deficient.

Because of the nature of the population with which he worked, Doll

defined social maturity in terms of social competence and social

independence. The scale which he constructed is therefore set up

to measure certain aspects of behavior which indicate independence.

The scale provides a definite outline of detailed perfor­ mance in respect to which children show a progressive capacity for looking after themselves and for participat­ ing in those activities which lead toward ultimate in­ dependence as adults. The items of the scale...represent progressive maturation in self-help, self-direction, loco­ motion, occupation, communication and social independence may be taken as a measure of progressive development in social competence.

Doll's scale has been of value in measuring social competence

particularly in the placement of the mentally deficient person in

society. Equating independence with social maturity, while perhaps

valid when speaking of a mentally deficient population, would seem

to be an over-simplification in terms of understanding or defining

social maturity for adults generally. Doll's approach, however,

in defining social maturity would seem a fruitful one, particularly

if applied to a normal population, since it specifies behaviors which

can be readily checked. 26

Strong's (42, p* 247) approach to maturity is illustrated in his interest maturity scale in which he defines interest maturity as the

quantitative measurement of ohange of interests with age*** the degree to which one has the interests of 55-year-old men as compared with those of 15-year-old boys.. .The revised in- terest-maturity scale••.contrasts the interests of 15- and 25-year-old men, so that 25 should be substituted in this definition in order to fit the revised scale*

Interest maturity is expressed in terms of percentile rating for a given age* The original scale, as Strong points out, was considerably affected by occupational level and eduoational status*

The revised scale seeks to minimize these factors and measure

simply changes in interests accompanying increasing age.

From the data obtained with the revised 15-25 year Interest

Maturity Scale, Strong ^42, p* 259) found that

Roughly speaking, one-third of the change in interests is between 15*5 and 16*5 years, one-third between 16.5 and 18.5 years, and one-third between 18.5 and 25 years.

When one considers maturity, as some writers do, as an on­

going process rather than a final state at which a person eventually

arrives, the question arises as to whether Strong's scale might not

better be oalle d an indicator of stability of interests rather than

maturity of interests. Strong's oonoept is similar, however, to

"echsler's mentioned in the section above on general discussionsof

maturity. Wechsler speaks of intellectual maturity as a leveling

off of intellectual growth as Strong speaks of a leveling off of

interest change. 27

One of the well-known instruments for measuring emotional maturity is that of fressey's (34) X-0 (interest-attitude) tests*

The approaoh used is similar to that of Strong in that maturity is based on comparison with others' scores at a given age level* The tests oonsist of four subtests, based on four categories— wrongs, worries, interests, and admired traits— each containing ninety items.

Each test contains both "mature” and "immature" items, so determined by whether the item shows respectively an increasing or decreasing number of persons checking it with increasing age. The "mature" words are scored as minus, the "imnature" words as plus. The final score is the algebraic sum of the items checked; thus, the higher the score, the more immature the subject.

From the test, one would gather that certain attitudes toward worries, wrongs, interests, and admired traits define emotional maturity. In another article (33), however, emotional maturity is defined as sophistication.

As near as can be determined these scores reflect what might be called "sophistication"— knowledge of the world, freedom from childish morality and blinding worries and super- stititions.

The X-0 test has been of use particularly in the longitudinal studies which have shown group changes in worries and wrongs from decade to decade. However, its usefulness in assessing emotional maturity seems uo the writer to depend on verification that at­ titudes towards worries, wrongs, interests, admired traits or sophis­ tication define emotional maturity. 28

Another test for measuring emotional maturity is the Willoughby

Emotional Maturity Scale* This rating scale oonsists. of sixty items each of which describes an individual's reactions to a particular situation* The usefulness of this scale also would seem to the writer to depend upon the validity of the definition of emotional maturity upon which it is based* following is the author's definition (51):

Emotional maturity, in the understanding of the investigator, is freedom from narcism and from ambivalence; in other terminology it is release from egocentrism, the achieve­ ment of socialized impulses, of insight; emotional ac­ ceptance of the reality principle and an "analyzed" con­ dition are also approximate synonyms.

The Wells Emotional Age Scale is based on the idea Tihat emotional age is similar t.o Binet's concept of mental age. Thus Weber (48, p.467) states

...the fact remains that instincts and their accompanying emotions appear gradually, mature, and finally decay... It is our immediate object to demonstrate that there are levels of emotional response that can be detected by ob­ jective methods.

The weakness in building a scale on a preconceived definition of the behavior being measured seems illustrated by the fact that this scale was shown to have a high correlation with intelligence.

Washburn (47) studied maturity through written wishes of adolescents. He compared the wishes of previously identified mature and immature groups, his findings are summarized below:

...the well-adjusted girls wish for virtue, skill in school, fame, family welfare, respect more than the maladjusted, and the maladjusted wish for a job (for high school students this amounts to wishing to quit school),sweetheart or boyfriend, sport goods, books, and athletic skill more than the well-adjusted.

With the boys we find good looks or personality, travel, sport goodf,read books, and athletic skill characteristic 29

of the maladjusted.* Most characteristic of the well- adjusted we find an interest in family, pets, and scouting*

We may*..further summarize the characteristics which appear to be indicated by the wishes of the well-ad­ justed groups as (l) social or friendly impulsions, (2) high standards, idealism, sensitivity, (3) interest in achievement involving sustained effort, (4) ooopera- tiveness, as indicated by serious attitude toward the test, (5) a desire for peace, quiet, and time to work, (6) an appreciation of primary values, (7) self-criti­ cism, and (8) consciousness of well-defined, remote goals •

...the two factors which distinguish most clearly be­ tween the wishes of the well-adjusted and the maladjusted are (l) the degree to which attainment of the indicated goal involves sustained and definitely directed effort, and (2) the degree to which "socialness" (i.e., attention turned sympathetically upon the experience of others) is implioit in the wish.

Buhler (5) and her associates took one concept-that of directionality— which they viewed as being an important com­ ponent of maturity, They then analyzed approximately two hundred life-histories of persons who were considered mature p rsonalities.

Their most definite conclusion was that each life seemed definitely ordered and steered toward some selected goal; each person had some­ thing special to live for.

In both of the preceding investigations some attempt was made to validate the concepts used by determining whether the qualities under study were characteristic of the mature groups and not so in

the immature groups. One wonders, though, what were the criteria for identifying the mature groups.

The study by Mofitaan (18, 19) was an investigation between the client's attitudes toward himself as expressed in counseling inter­ views and his descriptions of his overt behavioral changes. The 30 behavioral changes were measured against certain behavioral referents which ranged from immaturity to maturity* These were described as:

C - the individual is behaving with little or no control over himself or his environment; he is immature and not responsible.

B - the individual is exercising some control over his environment; he is manifesting some maturity and some responsible action.

A - the individual is behaving with a good deal of self- direction, maturity, and responsibility.

The results of the study indicated that the clients' feelings

changed from negative to positive. These changes were followed by

behavioral alterations which were rated as indicating maturity.

For King (27, p. 82) "emotional maturity is a product of

learning. Emotional immaturity is the result of improper learning

or ladk of learning." His study assumes that emotional maturity is

essentially a developmental concept. Two instruments were devised

to assess emotional maturity: a Sentence Completion Test and a

Story Completion Test. These were administered to 150 boys and 100

girls in the last four grades of a suburban grammar school. Inter­

rater reliability for rating the responses on the Sentence Completion

ranged from 88 per cant to 100 per cent with only one item falling

below 90 per cent. On the Story Completion, agreement ranged between

82 per cent and 100 per cent with two items falling below 92 per cent.

The writer predicted tnat thirty items, from the Sentence Com—

plation and the Scory Completion, would reveal developmental trends.

The responses to these items were classified into positive and nega­

tive categories. The hypothesis was that the percentage of responses

in the positive categories would increase with grade and that the

negative categories would decrease. Although some of the specifio 31 items failed to confirm the hypothesis, when the predicted de­ velopmental items were considered as a group, the evidence tended to oonfirm the hypothesis well beyond chance probability*

Eilbert's (ll) study is concerned with emotional maturity by way of its description of emoticcal immaturity • he used the critical

incident technique to develop categories of immaturity. Contributors

of critical incidents included psychiatrists, psychologists, psychia­

tric social workers, occupational therapists, nurses, and corpsmen

from a military hospital plus j b ychologists in nonmilitary organiza­

tions. Classifications were submitted to fourteen psychiatrists who

were asked to indicate those categories which were similar in meaning

to the term as it had been defined in an official document. More

than half the categories were acoepted by thirteen of the fourteen

judges, and none was rejected by more than fifty per cent of the

judges. It was concluded that the critical incident technique

represents a satisfactory way of arriving at a functional description

of emotional immaturity. As such, it would seem to be a fruitful

method to apply to the investigation of other areas of maturity.

Once the general areas or factors of maturity are identified, use

of this method would seem to be the next step toward obtaining opera­

tional definitions of each aspect of maturity.

The author's major criticism of most of the experimental studies

reviewed is the fact that they start out with an a^ priori definition

of some aspect of maturity and then seek to investigate it. It

might contribute more to our general understanding of psychological

maturity if either these a priori definitions were validated or if 32 research ware first to determine what each aspect is, as for example, social maturity, and then build tests to measure it* CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses in detail the methods used in the present study to identify the components of psychological maturity and the cultural factors which affect its growth either positively or negatively as seen in the opinions of young adults* The purpose of using samples from several countries is to arrive at a description which is not a reflection of one culture and to determine if there are differences in emphasis among them.

Population. Data were contributedly young adults (N=292, all students in psychology classes) from the United States and three European countries* Belgium, Hrance, and Italy. Description of sample by nationality, age, sex, and scholastic standing is given in Table 1.

The American students were all students in educational psychology classes at the Ohio State University. By class rank, there were 70 freshmen, 24 sophomores, seven juniors, one senior, and one special student. Ninety-three of them were enrolled in the College of

Education.

The Belgian students were all attending the University of Louvain.

Nearly all of them were working toward the Belgian M.A. degree in

Psychology or Pedagogy. According to year of working toward this degree, there were 45 in the first year, eight in the second, and three in the third. After what is the approximate equivalent of

33 Ikbla 1

Description of Sample by Nationality, Age, Sex, Scholastic Standing N=292

Age______Sex Nationaxity No* M Mdn Signa Range U F Scholastic Standing

American 103 19.8 19.0 4.3 17-46 31 72 Mean Ohio State Psychological (Ohio) Examination— 55th Percentile

Belgian 55 21.5 20.0 4.0 17-34 50$ in upper quartile at baccalaureat French 71 22.9 22.0 5.5 17-47 20a 39 51$ in upper quartile at baccalaureat Italian 63 19.9 19.0 2.1 17-29 42 21 40$ in upper quintile at maturita classics**

*0n the Belgian and on twleve of the French questionnaires, this question was inad­ vertently omitted*

-«-*This percentage is based on the 25 in the sample who responded to this question* 36 our high school, the Belgians have a preparatory year if they wish to obtain a License (similar to the American M.A.). Most of the

Belgian sample had completed their preparatory year*

The French students were enrolled at the Sorbonne. Thirty-one were in their preparatory year and fifty were working for the M*A» or License in Psychology or Pedagogy* At the completion of the lycee

(which may be roughly equated to the American highsohool), the French students take a competitive examination. If they pass successfully, they receive the baccalaureat. If they wish to study at a university, they must spend one year of general study as a preparatory year before specializing in their chosen field. At the end of this year, they begin work on the License (M.A.)• Four certificates must be obtained for this degree through examinations. The length of time to obtain this degree depends upon how soon the student can successfully take the examinations. In ohe sample used in this study, 46 were in their first year and four were in their second year toward this degree.

Of the Italian students, 28 were enrolled at the University of

Milan and were preparing to be teachers. The remaining 35 were en­ rolled at the Universita Cattolica ael S. Cuore in Milan and were studying for the priesthood.

In the Italian educational system, the Maturita Classics seems to be an equivalent of uhe American high school diploma except that the liceo is usually more advanced tnan the average nigh school.

The first university degree is the Laurea and is equivalent to the

American B.A. Of the Italian sample, the 35 students studying for the priesthood were working for their Maturita Classics. The re- 36 mining 28 were working for the Laurea.

Because of the differing eduoational systems in the various coun­ tries, it is almost impossible to obtain a close inter-cultural match*

It is therefore assumed that students of approximately equal ages in advanced educational institutions are about as comparable as can be obtained.

Procedure* Open-ended questionnaires in the native language of each participating country were presented to the students who were asked

to take the questionnaires and return them after several days. They were asked not to discuss the questions with anyone else and not to

spend more than an hour in answering them. The administration of the

questionnaires was the same for all groups of subjects. The ques­

tionnaire had been translated by persons fluent in both the language

of the country and the language from which the questionnaire was

translated. For example, the French translation was made by a French

student who had spent several years in the United States. Thi6 trans­

lation was checked by a professor at the Sorbonne before it was pre­

sented to the students. The Italian questionnaire was translated

from the erench by an Italian stuaent who was studying in Paris.

The French translation was used in Belgium since French is the pre­

vailing language of the universities of the country.

The questionnaires (copies in each language in the appendix)

consisted of two parts: one for background data, the other for the

questions investigated. Complete freedom of response was permitted

to the following four questions: 1* Describe as many qualities as you can which in your opinion characterize a mature person* 37

2. Think of a situation in which a person acted maturely. Describe the person's behavior as adequately as you can.

3. Think of a situation in which a person acted imnaturely. Desoribe the person’s behavior as adequately as you can.

4. List some ways in which your culture, in your opinion, promotes the development of maturity and other ways in which you think it impedes the development of maturity.

Questions two and three were included to provide behavioral descriptions which could be used in the future construction of a maturity scale and to provide a cross-check to see whether the same kinds of data result from asking for general as for behavioral de­ scriptions of maturity. The data for questions two and three were omitted from this study since it was decided that responses to the first question would provide sufficient data from which to obtain the characteristics of maturity. In addition, these two questions are a reiteration in different words of question one and it was ob­ served that more varied responses were available in answer to question one. Responses to questions one and four only of the questionnaire, ohen, were analyzed for the present study.

Analysis

When the data were collected, all questionnaires were trans­ lated into English by competent personsThe responses were then separated by the writer into as many distinct ideas as they con­ tained. Each of these descriptive phrases was then typed on an

The French and Belgian questionnaires were translated by a native Parisian who had recently become an American citizen. An American doctoral student who was fluent enough in Italian to obtain a research grant to study in Italy for one year, translated the Italian question­ naires. Nevertheless, a certain amount of error is introduced in translation because when words are translated they sometimes lose special nuances which they had in their original language. 38

IBM card# Three types of analyses were made: determination of categories and their reliabilities, testing of three hypotheses, and a factor analysis. The general procedures used in each of these analyses are presented in this section. The statistics used in each case are presented in Chapter IV with the results.

1. Determination of the Psychological Maturity Categories and their

Reliabilities. The cards containing responses to the first question

(characteristics of maturity, N=l,815) were given to two judges^ who placed them into as many separate categories as they could identity

When this was completed, the judges independently labelled each cate­

gory vrith an appropriate name. A contingency table was made to

determine the agreement in assignment of the descriptive items to

distinct categories by the two judges. Consideration of the group­

ings and corresponding names used by each judge resulted in the number of categories being stabilized and named. The two judges

then reassigned the original descriptive items to the defined categorie

to which they seemed to belong.

The next step was to determine if this large number of categories

(hereafter called minor categories) could be meaningfully described

by a fewer number of more comprehensive categories. The names of the

minor categories were then given to the two judges who grouped ti em

into as few areas as seemed appropriate on the basis of telonging,

and assigned names.

To test the reliability of assigning the minor categories to

^Two of the judges participating in this study were professors of psychology; the remaining ones were graduate students working for the Ph.D. in educational, clinical, or counseling psychology. 39 the major ones, names of both sets at' categories were given to five judges who assigned each minor category to the appropriate major category.

2• The Hypotheses and the Means Used to Test them.

Hypothesis I wass Young adults from several European countries and the United States differ in their conceptions of psycho­ logical maturity.

It was tested by comparing the number of descriptive items falling into each category for the American and European® samples to see if a difference in emphasis between the cultures could be detected. This was done first for the major categories to see if there were any general differences. Then, the minor categories were compared separately so specific differences could be determined.

The first hypothesis regarding intercultural differences would be supported if students from the different cultures gave significantly different proportions of descriptive items for the same categories.

Hypothesis II was: The quality of other-direotedness will appear as significantly greater for the American than for the European as represented in this study.

This hypothesis would be supported if the particular differences

in response rate for the two cultures were in such a direction that

American emphasis would be on those characteristics mentioned in

® For the sake of brevity and convenience only, the terms American and European are used throughout the write-up of this study to refer to the samples. The term American is nowhere used to imply that the views held by persons of North and South America are represented, nor even that all of the United States is represented. Similarly, the term European does not imply a representation of views from all oountries of Europe. The restricted samples from both America and Europe should be kept in mind when these terms are used. 40

Chapter I and in Riesman's book (36) as descriptive of the trait of other-directedness. The categories in vihioh other-directedness is expected to appear are given on page 68.

hypothesis III wasi Young adults from several European countries and the United States differ in the cultural factors they conceive influential in the growth of maturity.

Before this hypothesis could be tested, the cultural categories and their reliabilities were determined. To do this, the same initial procedure described for the psychological maturity responses was used for responses to question four (oultural factors which facilitate or inhibit the growth of maturity). Responses were analyzed into separate ideas (h»l,276), placed on IBM cards and categorized into the maturity categories previously established plus additional ones which had to be set up to accommodate the items which did not seem to fit into the maturity categories. Inter-rater reliability was determined between two judges who independently assigned the cul­ tural items to the maturity and culcural categories.

To test hypothesis III, then, frequencies of cultural items falling into each category were compared for the American and

European samples.

3. frhctor Analysis. An objective questionnaire (copy in appendix) made up from the definitions of 53 of the b5 minor categories (two

categories— Miscellaneous and vague Definitions of Maturity— were not included) was administered to 50 male and 50 female American

students in beginning educational psychology class os at Ohio State

University. IJone of these subjects had participated in the previous

research. 41

The subjects rated each categorical description in terms of how well it described a mature person. They rated, therefore, the adequacy of each description. They did not rate a person. There were 53 descriptive statements of a psychologically mature person.

The items were placed in random overall order, and additionally, the pages of the questionnaires were randomly distributed. That is, what may have been page one in one questionnaire became page five in another and so on. This was done to avoid fatigue and response set effects. The subjects read and rated each statement on a seven- point scale as to its relative importance in describing a mature person. The directions read as follows:

Among your various acquaintances "there are probably some whom you consider psychologically mature; others, whom you consider lass mature.

Vie are trying to arrive at an adequate way of describing psychologically mature persons. He have assembled a number of statements, some of which may be more important than others as descriptions of psychologically mature persons.

You may think of a person or persons whom you consider psychologically mature. CAREFULLY HEAD EACH STATLmENT and indicate how important it is as a description of such persons. If the statement is of the greatest possible importance, then cirole the number 7. if the statement is completely unimportant as a description of a mature person's behavior, put a circle around the number 1* If you judge the statement to be somewhere between these two extremes in its importance, then put a circle around the number which best describes the degree of importance of that statement.

The degrees of importance are as follows:

1. Completely unimportant

2. Somewhat important

3. Moderately important 42

4* Ciuite important

5. Very important

6. Very, very important

7. Greatest possible importance

tie sure to note all the statements

Example: A. This person wears blue sox* © 2 3 4 6 6 '

The purpose of analyzing responses to the questionnaire was to determine the relationship among the categorical descriptions of psychological maturity and to resolve these into a minimum number of explanatory constructs by a factor analysis.

The first step in analyzing the responses to these question— naires was to compute the minor and the major category scores for each questionnaire. The major cato ory score was the sum of the minor category ratings which comprised that major category. Tor

example, if a subject scored minor categories Gp, G2, Gg, and G4 as 5, 4, 3, and 6 respectively, the major category score would then nave been 18.

Product moment correlations between the major categories and tetrachoric correlations between the major and minor category scores were tnen computed. Tetrachoric correlations were obtained between

bue scores of each minor category and each major category; for example,

the correlation of minor category hp was computed not only with major

category Ti but also with the remaining major categories.

The major categories were assumed to be first estimates of

factors, since they consisted of reasonable and reliable groupings

of the minor category descriptions. The correlations among the major 43 categorise were factor analyzed to get a better array of factors*

The following preliminary steps had to be completed first.

The observed correlations between the minor categories and major categories were corrected into estimates of loadings on factors by the ».hcrry-Winer (50) indirect factor method. This method corrected (a) the minor-major category correlations for the spurious effect contributed by the correlation of' the minor category scores with the major category scores, of which they were a part, (b) the underestimation of minor category correlations not in a ;jiven major category but which may actually belong to it, and (c) the intercor­ relations of the major categories themselves.

hollowing the Wherry-Winer iterative adjustment of the minor category correlations and the inter-category correlations, the nherry-booli-tie method of excluding those categories with insufficient specific variance was carried out with the Z portion to the Wherry tost selection procedure 1,40). Only those categories whose variance was not better explained by other categories were retained in the correlation matrix to be factor analyzed. The remaining categories made up an inter-factor correlation table from which successive centroids were extracted. The groups of loadings resulting from extracting the cern,roius were rotated to a simpler structure and psychological meaningfulness• CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

This study used three types of statistical analyses:

(A) those employed in the determination of reliability, (B) tests of experimental hypotheses, and (C) the factor analysis. Each of these and their results will be presented separately.

A. Reliability

The following kinds of reliability were determined: (l) test- retest reliability of oho open-ended questionnaire, given to the

American students, (2) inter-rater reliability for placement of descriptive phrases or items into minor categories, and (3) inter­ rater and (>4) test-retest reliability for grouping the minor categories into the major categories of psychological maturity. For the cultural factors, (5) the inter-rater reliability of assignment of descriptive phrases or items to categories was computed.

1. Test-retest Reliability of Questionnaire. The first step in statistical analysis was determination oi' the reliability of the questionnaire. This was done by presenting the questionnaire to the American sample (,h=100)l on two separate occasions at a one- month interval. In each case, the open-ended responses were broken down into discrete items which were mien placed into cate-

^ Three of the original American sample were absent from class when the questionnaires were distributed the second time.

44 45

gorios. This was done prior to the inter-rater cross-check and

establishment of stable categories. For this reason, 51 categories which resulted from categorization of the first set of American

responses were used for both sets of responses. A Pearson product-

moment coefficient of correlation was computed for frequency of

descriptive items which fell into each of these categories. The

value of r was .89.

2• Inter-rater Reliability of Assigning Descriptive Items to Minor

Categories. From the translated responses, submitted by all

students from the four participating countries, separated into

discrete ideas and typed on IBM cards, 1,815 items describing

characteristics of maturity were identified.’ The items were given

in random order and without identifying data to two judges who

independently sorted the itens into as many categories as they could

and then assigned appropriate names. Judge 1 identified and named

74 categories; judge 2, 96. A contingency table was then con­

structed between the two sets of judgments. iihere overlap existed,

categories were combined. For example, judge 2 placed certain items

into two categories* Purposefulness and Directionality. Judge 1

had placed these same items into one category and named it Doal-

directedness. Since goal-directedness includes the idea of pur­

posefulness, the two categories of judge 2 were combined under

^ Some typical descriptive items ares perseverance in one'6 effort— tenacity; one can arrive at maturity through one's own experience and perhaps through the experience of others; self-control; thinks before he acts; able to make sound judgments; self-knowledge; a pleasing personality and a friendly smile; capable of making wise decisions; regard for the feelings of other individuals. 46 the name of Goal-directed. Prom this procedure* 56 categories were identified, ‘^he names of these categories were then given to two judges together with the 1,816 items. The judges placed the items in the categories to which they seemed to belong. Two by two contingency tables were set up for all 55 categories for the two judges. Since at least one of the expected cell frequencies in each table was below five, T’isher's exact probability method

(45, p. 105) was used rather than ^hi square. This gives the probability that two judges would have agreed to this extent only by chance. The calculated probabilities ranged from 6 x lO**^® to 8 x 1

1,815 items into the 55 minor categories ana therefore that the categorical descriptions were clear-cut and relatively unambiguous.

3, Inter-rater Reliability of Tlssigning teinor to Major Categories.

The names of the 5 5 minor categories were then given to she two judges who grouped them into as few cate0ories as possible to mean­ ingfully describe them and assigned appropriate names to the new groupings. Judge 1 made 13 groupings, judge 2 made 12. from in­ spection, it could be seen that the groupings and the names given by the two judges were highly similar. Three categories of judge 1 were combined, forming 12 groupings (hereafter called major cate­ gories). The names of uoth major and minor categories were then given to five juages. ^ two by two contingency table was set up Table 2

Inter-rater Reliability for Two Judges in Assigning Descriptive Items to Minor Categories

Category Common Probability No* Name flreq* of Occurrence*

A Physical Qualities 12 4 X 0-32 0-28 Bl Emotional Stability 27 3 X ®2 Emotional Control 30 9 X 0-60 Equilibrium 56 8 X 0-97 B3 0-110 Cl Social Adjustment 76 8 X C2 Socially Acceptable Behavior for one's Age 29 2 X 0-56 Dl Faith 13 5 X 0-40 Moral Code; Sense of Values 44 3 X 0-86 E1 Sense of Humor 11 4 X 0-29 E£ Seriousness 13 2 X 0-33 e3 Personality-Individuality 22 2 X 0-51 Optimism 10 1 X 0-23 E4 0-19 ^5 Healthy Attitude on Sex 3 6 X Eg Affection-Affeotivity 6 2 X 0-11 n Reasonableness 50 9 X 0-80 *2 Culture-Knowledge-Education 43 1 X 0-73 P3 Critical Mind 20 1 X 0-47 f4 Intelligence 19 10 X 0-45 t'5 Clarity of Ideas 16 2 X 0-36 Gl Self-knowledge 63 4 X 0-103 02 Self-confidence 17 9 X 0-42 % Self-control 63 2 X 0-103 G4 Self-accept an ce 25 2 X 0-45 Respect for others 16 10 X q-31 0-58 H-2 Tolerance for others 28 2 X q -75 h3 Consideration for others 42 8 X h4 Getting along with others 23 2 X 0-53 «5 Understanding others 49 10 X 0-86

47 Table 2 (cont'd.)

Category Common Probability too. ¥ame Freq. of Occurrence*

Il Realistic 62 8 X 0-98 Profits from Experience 27 8 X 0-52 13 Adaptability 64 4 X 0-108 0-49 14 Objectivity 32 1 X 0-107 is Responsibility 91 3 X 0—91 is Decisiveness 45 5 X *7 Directionality 78 3 X 0-103 18 Convi oti on 63 1 X 0-77 0-63 19 Common Sense 26 10 X *10 Perseverance 22 3 X 0-45 111 Initiative 21 2 X 0-29 0-52 J1 Vague Definitions of Maturity 27 8 X ^2 Scarcity of Maturity 19 5 X 0-38 0-33 J3 Maximum Development 17 9 X *1 Emotional Security 3 6 X o-io *2 Moderation 36 3 X 0—59 *s Honesty 14 1 X 0-36 k4 Dependability 15 1 X 0-47 *5 Reflectiveness 60 7 X 0-104 *6 Broadminded 20 2 X 0-41 Judgment 46 1 X 0-92 K7 *8 Ability to Communicate 26 9 X 0-53 0-52 *9 Problem-solving ability 34 10 X *10 Ability to admit mistakes 24 2 X 0-46 *11 Independence 74 2 X 0-103 q-48 *12 Willpower 28 2 X Miscellaneous 25 2 X 0- 22

♦Based on Fisher's exact probability method*

48 49 for each major category and each pair of judges. Then the number of minor categories which either one or both of the judges included, or excluded, were entered into the appropriate cells. The inter­ rater reliability for assigning the minor to the major categories by the five judges was computed by means of fisher's exact proba­ bility method, since cell frequencies were too small for use of

Chi square. Results are reported in Tables 16 through 27 in the appendix for each of the major categories. The tables indicate that there was significant inter-rater reliability, for the probability of chance assignment ranged from .05 to well beyond

.001. These are summarized in Table 3 which follows.

Table 3

Summary of the Distribution of Inter-rater Reliabilities for Bive Judges Taken Two at a Time in Assigning Minor Categories to 11 Major Categories

Probability No. of Inter-Judge Level* Comparisons

.05 to .01 27

.009 to .001 31

less than .001 52

* The probabilities are based on the one-tailed test. (45, p. 104)

Those categories upon which agreement was lowest were re­

examined. Two changes seemed warranted. On two of the major 50 categories, (Relationship to Reality, and Relationship to Performance), the judges frequently interchanged the minor categories* That is to say, while one or two judges placed a minor category into one of these two major categories, one or two other judgss equally often plaoed it into the other* 'this seemed to indicate a considerable overlap and for this reason, the two categories and the names were combined into one category (.Relationship to Reality—Performance) •

A number of other minor categories that had lowest reliability seemed not to belong unequivocally in any one major category. Rather, they appeared to cut across several areas* It was therefore decided to combine these minor categories into a separate additional major category called General or Complex Characteristics*

■1* I'ost-retest Reliability of Assiffling ^inor to Major Categories*

Test-retest reliability for placement of the minor into the major categories by the five judges was determined by means of phi coefficients. Results which appear in table 4 indicate that the correlations range from *46 to 1.00 with 54 of the 50 being .90 or above and only one being below .50. Since the number of inter­

correlations was large, it was thought that an average interoor—

relation might give a more concise summary of the reliability co­

efficients of correlation. The Spearman-brown average inter-

correlacion form ula® (28), to which the data were amenable, gave

an average test-retest reliability coefficient of correlation of Table 4

Test-retest Reliability for Five Judges in Assigning Minor Categories to Major Categories

Phi Coefficient Correlations Category J*1 ~ JS ~ ~J3 J*4 J5

Physical Characteristics 1*00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 00 GO Emotional Stability- .98 • .55 .64 .92 Equilibrium

Sociability 1.00 1.00 .46 1.00 1.00

Spirituality-Morality .86 1.00 1.00 1.00 .98

Personal Acceptability .81 .93 .57 .85 .77

Intellectual ism ..93 .59 .74 .92 1.00

■Relationship to Self 1.00 .88 1.00 .80 .73

Relationship to Others 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00

Relationsnip to Reality- .87 .60 .69 .77 .90 Performance

Abstract Statements 1.00 1.00 .86 1.00 1.00 About Maturity

Miscellaneous 1.00 1.00 .70 .67 1.00

51 52

•975 for tha five judges.

The probability that five judges should each have perfectly agreed on both judgnents only by chance is .000004; that four out

of five should have agreed is .000044. because of the 27 out of

50 perfect correlations, it should be pointed out that the method used indioates singly that the judges placed the same items in

the same categories both times. It says nothing about where the

other items went.

The Categories of Psychological Maturity. The definitions of the

categories of psychological maturity on the following pages are

simply a composite of the descriptive items within a given category.

That is, items in each category were examined, duplicates being

sorted out. The retaining items were jotted down and combined into

a list of qualities placed into that category, -^hase lists are

called the definitions of the categories of psychological maturity. 53

Major and Minor Categories of Psychological Maturity

A. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICSt physical, physiological, or morpho­ logical development of the body and its functions.

3. EMOTIONAL STABILITY— EQUILIBRIUM

Bi» Emotional Stability: having stable attitudes, character, sense of solidarity, emotional balance.

B2« Emotional Control: controlling or dominating one's emotions, temper, feelings, passions, impulses, urges, sentiments.

Bg. Equilibrium: having equilibrium, harmony, balance among one's intellectual, affective, motivational life.

C. SOCIABILITY

Ci• Social Adjustment, Social Graces, Conduct: having social graces of tact, finesse, prudence, discretion, politeness, being neat, well-mannered, cheerful, pleasant, vivacious, enthusiastic* acting like a lady or gentleman* acting in accordance with the norms of society* Having a certain mode of conduct, external comportment* being sooially adjusted.

Cg. Socially Acceptable Behavior for One's Age: acting like an adulc; not havin„ childish wayc.

D. SPIRITUALITY— MORALITY

Di« FAith— -Religious Beliefs: having faith in a Divine Being, religious beliefs.

D£. Moral Code— Sense of Values: having a moral code, a code of ethics or moral principles and living according to them; having a scale or hierarchy of values by which one acts.

E. PERSONAL ACCEPTABILITY

Ei» Sense of Humor: knowing how to take a joke, to enjoy oneself* not taking oneself too seriously.

Eg. Seriousness: being serious in actions, conduct;, work, interest

E3. Personality— Individuality : having a unified, distinct, coherent, pleasing personality* having individuality, singularity, integrity.

E4. Optimism: being optimistic; having courage, nope, joy. 54

V Healthy Attitude on Sex

Eg. Affection— Affeotivity: having or showing feeling, warmth, affection in relation to persons or objects in which one is interested.

F. INT ELIJD CT UALISM

F«. Reasonableness t being reasonable, rational; acting by reason instead of feeling; being able to think logically, to deal with ab­ stract ideas.

*2* Culture— Knowledge— Education; having general cultural background, knowledge of a number of fields, complete technical and professional education.

F3. Critical Mind; being able to critically evaluate facts, theories, events, ideas.

F4. Intelligence; having a sufficiently developed intel­ ligence, applying the principles of intelligence.

F§. Clarity of ideas— Lucidity: having clarity, lucidity, clear-sightedness; alertness of mind.

3. RELATIONSHIP TO SELF

Gp. Self-knowledge— Self-awareness; recognizing, knowing, understanding one's self, being aware of oneself, one’s value, qualities, capacities, limitations, rights, duties, and position.

G2• Self-confidence: having confidence in oneself, trust, poise, self-assurance.

G3. Self-control: having self-control, self-mastery, discipline, domination of oneself at all times, even under stress.

G4. Self-acceptance— Self-criticism: being able to accept oneself, one’s limitations, abilities; love for oneself; being able to criticize oneself, recognizing one's faults and shortcomings.

H. RELATIONSHIP fO OfnHRS

Hp. hespect for Others: their iaeas, attitudes, religion, opinions, politics, ways of thinking and feeling.

Hg. Tolerance toward Others: their thoughts, views, religion; not looking down on others; oeing free from prejudice; considering others' opinions even though different from one's own.

H3. Considerati on for Others: being considerate, kind, un­ selfish, generous, willing to help and interested in others. 55

H4 . Getting along with Others— Cooparation: being able to adjust to and get along with all kinds of people under any conditions whether one likes them or not.

H5 . Understanding of Others: being able and making the effort to understand and accept others, their faults, likes and dislikes} a spirit of sympathy; sympathetic, not sarcastic.

I. RELATIONSHIP TO REALITY— PERFORMANCE

Il» Realistic: accepting and faoing reality, the demands, controversies, contradictions, disappointments, successes, failures of life; making realistic judgments; seeing tnings as they are and not as we would like them to be; facing and meeting problems rather tiian avoiding them.

Ig* Profits from Experience: learning through one's own or others' experience; profiting from mistakes; revising opinions or beliefs as a result of experience.

Ig. Adaptability 1 versatility, flexibility, being able to adapt oneself to all circumstances and situations.

14 . Objectivity: in judging situations, persons, self and in giving criticism; impartiality; knowing how to go outside one's own subjective feelings or point of view.

15. Responsibility: knowing how to assume responsibility for self, actions, others, things; sense of duty, obligation.

Ig. Decisiveness— Choice 1 knowing now to make decisions and cnoices independently and carry tnem out.

I7. Directionality— Goal-direoted: having a goal and working toward it; purposefulness, philosophy of life.

I8 « Conviction— Own Opinionst having and acting according to one's own convictions, opinions, ideas, personal -views; rigidity; not being easily influenced; self-assertion.

I9. Common Sense; being sensible; naving and usinr, common or good sense.

I^q . Perseverance; giving evidence of perseverance, tenacity, endurance, steadfastness, patience.

Ill* Initiative > using personal initiative, inventiveness, creativity, own abilities• 56

J. ABSTRACT STATEMENTS ABOUT MATURITY

J^. Vagua Definitions of Concept: definitions too vague to be classified elsewhere, e.g., maturity is a quality more than a period of life; an abstraot concept; definition depends on point of view, etc.

J2» Rareness or Scarcity of Maturity! maturity is difficult to attain and rarely attained; not all adults are mature.

J3 . Maximum Development: statements indicating a mature person is one who has reached the peak of his development— mentally, morally, spiritually.

K. GENERAL UR COMPLEX C11AJL.CTERISTICS: these qualities seem to refer to more than one category.

Ki* Emotional Security

Kg. Moderation— Even-tempered: being even-tempered, serene, calm, composed, tranquil, having always a more or less equal dispo­ sition or humor.

K3 . Honesty: being honest, frank, sincere, straightforward.

K4 . Dependability: being reliable, dependable, loyal, trust­ worthy.

K5 . Refiectiveness: being thoughtful, deliberative, given to reflection, pondering; considering before acting or speaking.

Kg. Broadminded— Qpenminded: having a broad outlook on life; being ready to learn new ideas.

K7 . Judgment: being able to and making deep, clear, non-rash, personal, just, sound, considered, independent, objective judgments of facts, ideas, situations.

K-8 * Ability to Communicate: being able to establish rapport, communicate, carry on a conversation with all kinds of people; able to listen.

K9. Problem-solving Ability ; being able to realize, cope with, handle, meat problems oneself; having a metnod for solving problems.

Kio» Ability to Admit Mistakes--Give/Reoeive Advice/Criticism: admitting or acknowledging one's mistakes or errors; profiting from criticism, contradiction, suggestions, without being hurt; being able to give, receive advice and others' opinions. 57

Kj j . Independencei economic and intellectual— knowing how to think and act by oneself; self-sufficient; being able to take care of oneself financially and otherwise.

Rig. Will Power; using, exercising, restraining, controlling the will; having will power.

L. MISCELLANEOUS « qualities or characteristics that cannot be placed into any other category.

Once the above psychological naturity categories were established, the responses listing the cultural factors which facilitate or in­ hibit the growth of maturity were typed on IHM cards, each card con­ taining one idea, as was done with the characteristics of psycho­ logical maturity, ■‘■he total number of cultural items submitted by all subjects was 1,276.

It was planned to have judges place these items into the psycho­

logical maturity categories to determine reliability. On examining

the items, however, it was discovered that more than half of them warranted a different kind of category bein0 set up. Following, are

some typical cultural items for which the psychological maturity

categories seemed inadequate. Listed as factors inhibiting the

growth of psychological maturity were: the lack of resources of

facilities for work, comfort, and sufficient income; a too comfort­

able life without difficulties; the use of modern communication can

cause a person to become a follower and looker instead of a leader

and speaker capable of making decisions; comic books; movies which make people passive— everythin^ is absorbed without critic*ism; slum

areas hinder the growth of maturity; in our culture maturity is im­

peded by over-indulgent parents who do not give a child a chance to

think for himself. 58

Indicated as factors facilitating the growth of psychological maturity were: an open-oninded attitude on sex; in school they teach you about dating, sex, marriage, and other things which occur during

a person's growing up; going to church every Sunday and practicing

the Christian way of life, because how much more mature can you be

than if you follow "Do unto others as you wish others to do unto you"?;

psychology classes in high schools and colleges; compulsive education;

college or any other experience of living away from home which re­

quires decisions without one's parents' advice; new education methods;

youth groups Yhich .jive people an opportunity to live, work, and play

together; military service which helps a person to know how other men

act and show him peoples in other countries— how tney live and act;

diffusion of good books, good movies which will make known t,o men and

women the literature of their country, other countries, and civiliza­

tions; radio and TV can also hslp men to acquire a broader mind*

The group of items which could not be classified in the psychologi­

cal maturity categories were ^rouped into as many distinct categories

as possible and names assigned to them. This was easily accomplished

since the items appeared clear-cut and the names self-evident,. On

this basis, she cate, ory names were used without further checking.

In this way, 23 additional cultural categories were set up (see pp.61-£5)»

Jl* Inter-rater Reliability of Assigning Cultural Items to Categories»

The 1,276 cultural items were then randomized and .itan without iden­

tifying data to two judges who independently placed them into the 55

minor categories of psychological maturity and the 23 cultural cate- gories. The number of items assigned by each judge to the 23 cul­ tural categories greatly exceeded the number assigned to the psycho­ logical maturity categories. Judge 1 assigned 749 and judge 2 assigned

893 of the cultural items to the cultural categories. In both cases this left a relatively small number of items to be assigned to the

55 categories of psychological maturity. Since reliability of the psychological maturity categories had already been established and because of the small number of cultural items assigned to them, irrter-rater reliability was computed only for the 23 cultural categories#

This was done by means of Chi square, values of which ranged from 165 to 1122 (Table 5), all quite significant. This is interpreted to mean that relatively little ambiguity of category meaning was ext. perienced when individual descriptive phrases were evaluated.

Cultural Categoric s. After the reliability was determined, items which both judges assigned to a given category were examined. Dup­

licates were sorted out and the remaining items were compiled into definitions. As with the definitions of the psychological maturity

categories, then, tne cultural category definitions were constructed

from the items themselves and represent a composite of the statements

contained in each category. On the pages following Table 5 is the

list of cultural categories and their definitions. Table 5

Inter-rater Reliability for Assigning Descriptive Cultural items to Cultural Categories (No* of items ■ 1,276)

No. of items both judges Category Name Agreed on Phi Chi Square

Mamily Life— Parental 71 .94 1122 Relations War 7 .94 1115 Standard of Living 22 .90 1035 Politi os— Government— Law 21 .71 648 Media for Mass Communication 73 .83 887 Progress 10 .76 737 Complex Society 18 .70 825 Discipline 4 .49 305 Comfort— Materialism 19 .71 634 Superficiality 9 .62 486 Military Service 14 .93 1114 Diversion-—Amusement 3 .61 476 Contact with Others 29 .65 547 Social Classes 9 .47 285 Social Expectation of Maturity 8 .45 253 Spor ts 24 .87 968 Youth Movements 72 .85 916 Educational Methods 69 .62 484 Reading— -S u udy lb .65 535 Schools 37 .68 589 School Subjects 20 .60 454 Churches— Religion 27 .90 1033 Dating— &ex— Mar ria ge 22 .92 1076

60 61

Cultural Categories of Factors Influencing Psychological Maturity

Family Life— Parental Relations: pi rents overprotect child; doting parents; parents keep children dependent on them; parents do too much for their children; children often are guarded from worry or responsibility by "kind parents”; parents over-protective, over-in­ dulgent; neglectful parents; broken families.

War: wars make people grow up quickly yet theirs is an unstable maturity in many respects.

Standard of living; our high standard of living and abundance of national wealth has tended to make some people more irresponsible and reckless; maturity is impeded by slum conditions, e.g., children are held back from developing physioally, intellectually, and socially; poverty; we provide our children with proper food and education which would help promote maturity; ordinarily in our country, the economic situation is such that it is possible to busy with questions other than questions of food.

Politics— Government— -Law: political organizations; -.rowing im­ portance of politics; bureaucracy and officialism; division and political struggle; ready-made slogans of political parties; any form of government that promotes the mass as the Hitlerian or Soviet regime; an example where a culture impedes maturity is in England whose government provides socialized medicine, f'he people are thus dependent on the government for their medical care; parti­ cipation in political life; right to vote.

Media for Mass Communication: movies, radio, newspapers, television can cause people to become a follower instead of a leader and speaker capable of making decisions; movies and novels depict too much fantasy; bad movies with plots and easy endin0s relating facts which do not happen in reality; propaganda gives false iueas; en­ slavement of the individual to collective practice through propaganda, publicity; communications have increased the amount of knowledge available to a person and thus promote the development of maturity through application of this knowledge; proper and instructive movies; trash comic books.

Progress: excessive technicality which does not allow freedom in making aspirations, inclinations and personal initiative; progress has promoted maturity; progress in science; there are so many new developments and inventions that people have to learn about, that their associations with these tilings causes tnem to mature earlier; wanting to get ahead. 62

Complex Society— Rapid I'ace of Life: "fast living"; the world situa­ tion can cause a lack of desTre to mature and face reality; emphasis on objective thinking and rapid, complex living can cause so muoh frustration that a person develops other means of adjustment than mature thinking; pace of living too fast; people in too much of a hurry; a dynamic life contrary to serious thinking; our complex form of society, operating at a rapid pace, mates early maturity a neces­ sity to be successful*

Discipline: too strict discipline; intelligent discipline has declined; all forms of discipline even when they are useless for immediate action develop maturity; gentle admonitions; punishing without ex­ plaining the cause*

Comfort— Materialism: avoidance of luxury; dependence upon modern conveniences, although this might entail learning responsibilities, impedes the development of maturity; the comfortable life of most well-to-do families causes parent* to cater to their children in their every whim taking away from them the opportunity of becoming personalities in an integral sense; the materialistic life; ex­ cessive comfort above all else; materialistic tendencies; a too comfortable life without difficulties; easy life; materialism which makes one forget higher values*

Superficiality: systematic development of superficiality takes the place of a stimulus to study; being superficial; the spell of fashion.

Military Service: the army; selective service; military service which gets a man out of his own milieu promotes contact with others; entering the servioe causes young adults to start making decisions for themselves; military training seems to make boys more serious- minded, more independent since they are away from home and more responsible.

Diversion— Amusement: too much diversion; excessive amusement.

Contact with Others: contact with persons who possess a psychological maturity; contact with needs of others; contact with "refined" people; contact with people of diverse conditions; travel abroad; international meetings; more freely associating with adults other than parents; our culture promotes the development of maturity in thatthe child comes into contact quite early with an adult world, tie is conscious of his duties and responsibilities at an early age; idea of "grownups" being looked up to and for this reason children like to act grown up or mature.

Social Classes— .Environment: social barriers; opposition and dis­ tinction of social classes; flexibility of social classes; social environment; lack of a place in the country where children can spend their infancy. 63

Sooial Expectation and idealization of Maturity: idealizing the mature person; society rewards indications of maturity; the adoles­ cent is in many ways treated like an adult and allowed (or forced) to become mature; the high value which our culture sets on maturity; the obligation to possess a minimum of maturity "to get along"; the late adolescent, although he has reached physical maturity is still cast in the role of a child or at least non-adult until he reaches "the magic age of instant maturity."

Sports: undeveloped practice of sports; the insufficiency of sport impedes the development resulting in lack of opportunities for rapid choice, for work in groups, for responsibility; participation in sports.

Youth Movements: youth organizations such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMGA, YWCA, help children gain maturity; organized youth groups develop understanding between youths; clubs; Y»*CA, etc. give a person sooial poise and confidence, bring out leadership, give responsibility.

Educational Methods: discussion; education too controlled which leaves no place for initiative; education not individualistic enough; overburdened programs which do not leave free time to discuss with students problems of life; our secondary system of education is con­ ducive to the development of a critical mind; our educational system teaohss us to think and not to act; in the schools students are given projects to work on; schools are having more group discussion; new methods of education; active educational methods.

Reading— Study: serious reading adapted to age and mentality; reading; reading without any order, about episodes far-removed from the reality of life; illiteracy; stuay; lack of interest in study.

Schools: more attending college; schools $re prime promoters of maturity; college education; compulsory education; democratic school systems; in public schools a person has a chance to know many dif­ ferent types of people and their ways; the school impedes maturity, oriented as it is according to one program and direction; over­ crowded schools.

School Subjects: psychology, philosophy, humanities, classics, scholastic discipline, scientific method, physical education, mental hygiene, health programs, literature.

Churches— Religion— Church Organizations : churches give us an understanding of our fellowman; churches; church Oroups, church or­ ganizations.

Dating— Sex— Marriage: early marriage; association with opposite sex; early dating. 64

In summary, the questionnaire as well as the major and minor categories of psychological maturity and the cultural categories were all found to be highly reliable.

B. Tests of ■‘hypotheses

Three hypotheses were proposed for testing. Each of these, together with the results of the statistical testing will now be dis cussed.

Hypothesis It Young adults from several European countrios and the United States differ in their conceptions of psychological maturity.

There were more European respondents than American but a Chi square of about 10“^ indicates that the rate of overall response was essentially proportional to the number of participants in each culture.

Thus, differential proportions are interpreted as truly reflecting dif x'erential emphases and not artifacts.

xiypothesis I was tested by means of a rank-order coefficient of

correlation comparing frequency of American and European statements

contributed to each of the previously determined twelve major cate­ gories of psychological maturity, the obtained correlation was .81 which would lead one to conclude that there is a similar emphasis

on the major components of maturity in each culture.

Besides ranking the frequencies of American and European re­

sponses according to the twelve major categories of psychological maturity, the frequencies of responses were also ranked for the 55 minor categories. The rank-order correlation thus obtained was .22

indicating that there are differing emphases when these components

are exaidned more in detail. 65

To find specifically vhat these differences were, relative pro­

portions of responses were examined for both American and European

samples for all the major categories and for those minor categories

having a rank-order difference of 20 or more. Results fear the major

categories appear in i'able 6 which indicates that all the dilferences with the exception of those found in Category R— General or Complex

Characteristics— were significant.

Due to the high relationship found from correlating the response

frequencies in the major categories, it could be seen that general

differences in the minor categories, if any, would be small. It was

for this reason that the relative response frequencies were examined

for only those minor categories having a rank-order difference of at

least 20 or more. A rank-order difference this great would be re­

quired to show any differences worth talking about. As can be seen

from Table 7, differences between proportion oi’ responses contributed

even to ‘those categories having a rank-order difference of 20 or mcare

were veiy small, ranging between 1°/» and 4/i.

Results of analyzing proportionate differences in American and

European responses in those minor categories having a rank-order

difference of 20 or more appear in Table 7. The nine categories em­

phasized by the Europeans all showed a significant difference from

the proportion of American responses in th>,se categories. The main

focus for the Europeans in specific components of maturity was on

behavior qualities vhich might be considered individualistic. Of

the twelve minor categories emphasized by the •Americans and having a

rank-order difference of 20 or more, all but two were significantly Table 6

Differences between Relative Proportion of Responses in Individual Major Categories for the American and European Samples and their Significance Level

Proportion Proportion of Responses of Responses Submitted by Submitted by Difference Americans Europeans between dategory iv = £85 N = 1230 Proportions C. R.

Categories Emphasized by Europeans

F Intellectualism .051 .096 .045 21.0 G Relationship to Self .075 .092 .017 8.8 E Emotional Stability .055 • 066 .011 5.2 J Abstract Statements .010 .046 .036 8.6 about Maturity E Personal Acceptability .015 .045 .030 19.5 D Spirituality— Morality .017 .038 .021 13.0 Miscellaneous .006 .017 .009 2.7

Categories Emphasized by Americans

1 Relationship to Reality— .315 .281 .034 2.6 Perf ormari ce K General— Complex .217 .205 .012 1.0 Cba racteristics H Relationship to Others .145 .059 .086 56.6 C Sociability .080 .047 .033 19.3 A Physical Cheracteristics .012 .004 .008 5.5 Table 7 Differences between Relative Proportion of Responses in individual Minor Categories Raving a Rank-order Difference of 20 or More for American and European Samples ______and their Significance Level______’ J Proportion Proportion of Responses of Responses Submitted by Submitted by Difference Americans Europeans between Category Proportions C. R. Categories Emphasized by Europeans B3 Equilibrium .002 .045 .043 5.0 18 Conviction .009 .047 .039 5.7 K5 Reflectivene ss .015 .042 .026 2.9 *12 Will Power .000 .023 .023 3.6 K? Judgnent .012 .032 .020 2.5 ^2 Scarcity of Maturity .003 .020 .016 2.7 Critical Mind .002 .016 .014 2.6 Reasonableness .003 .016 h .013 2.4 J3 Maximum Development .002 .013 .011 2.3 Categories Emphasized by Americans h3 Consideration for Others .050 .011 .039 5.2 h 4 Getting along with Others .036 .002 .034 3.4 K9 Problem-solving Ability .036 .011 .025 3.7 b2 Emotional Control .032 .009 .024 3.6 R8 Ability to Communicate .027 .008 .019 3.2 C2 Socially Acceptable .029 .010 .019 3.0 Behavior for One's Age h 2 Tolerance toward Others .027 .010 .018 2.8 *10 Ability to Admit mistakes .024 .008 .016 2.8 G2 Self-confidence .017 .006 .011 2.4 k 4 Dependability .015 .005 .010 2.3 *6 Broad-minded .017 .008 .009 1.7 A Physical Characteristics .012 .004 .008 1.9 68 different from the proportion of European responses in those categories*

Substantial American emphasis was on behavioral qualities of social significance. It will be noted that when the minor categories are compared with the major categories, some overlap is observed in the emphaseB. Thus, Category I— Relationship to Reality-Performance— which the Americans emphasized, consisted of a large number of minor categories, but none of them individually were significantly emphasized by the Americans. In fact, Ig Conviction— was strongly emphasized by the Europeans. Nevertheless, the cumulative effect of small em­ phases on the individual minor categories comprising it made this major category as a whole stand out as significantly more important to the Americans than to the Europeans. It should be understood that rigidly definied categorization of behaviors is very difficult to attain anr. that the coherence of items comprising a category and their distinc­ tiveness from items in other categories i6 more an ideal than an achieve­ ment. The correlational analysis in the next section shows extensive overlap in the responses to questions based on these descriptions.

Hypothesis IIs The quality of other-directedness will appear significantly greater for the American than for the European rep­ resented in this study.

This hypothesis rests on the assumption that other-directedness as discussed by Riesman (36) will exhibit itself in the major cate­ gories of h— Relationship to Uthers— and C— Sociability. When response proportions in these categories are examined for both

European and American samples as presented in Table 6, it is seen that the Americans do emphasize the behaviors in these two cate­ gories. Again, analysis of the minor categories in Table 7 in­ dicates that four of the ten categories emphasized by the A m e r i c a n s 69 favored Consideration for Others (H3), Getting along with Others (H4),

Tolerance toward U-t4ierB (H^), Socially Acceptable Behavior for

One’s Age (C^). This hypothesis then is supported on the basis of the statistically significant differences observed. Considering the small magnitude of the differences which do exist, however, at best it can be said that results are consistent with Riesman's description of Americans as other-directed in their method of achieving oonformity, but uoubt is placed on the pervasiveness of this quality.

Hypothesis III. Young adults from several European countries and the United States differ in the cultural f&ctors they conceive influential in the growth of maturity.

Because of the diffuse nature of the descriptive items which were evaluated as facilitating or inhibitng the growth of maturity and beoause of the relatively smaller nunfcer of such responses, an arbitrary criterion of selection for analysis was adopted. Gnly those cultural categories which contained a total of at least 20 responses (American and European samples combined) were considered, descriptions formed from a smaller number of responses may be mean­ ingful. Since the present effort was only to compare major emphases between the two cult ires and not to arrive at a stable group of items for testing or inventory purposes, however, it was considered appropriate to make the analysis in this way, selecting those groups with the larger number of responses and hence vdth the better relia­ bility. Another reason for choosing the method of analysis used in­ stead of the rank-order correlation method used with the psychological maturity categories was that with the cultural items there were a very large number of psychological maturity categories in which one or the other culture contributed no items. As a result, a rank-order correla- 70 lation in vihich there were a large number oi ranks with zero frequency would be misleading.

To test hypothesis III, then, proportional differences were calculated for only those cultural categories having 20 or more responses* These *re proportions of total responses, hcwever, and not just of the sample selected, hesults are presented in table 8.

Americans gave greater emphasis than Europeans to three cultural factors which facilitate the growth of maturity. Only one of these had a difference in emphasis vhich was statistically significants

Dating— Sex— Marriage. By contrast, the only significant European emphasis was on Educational Methods.

Of the cultural factors inhibiting she growth of psychological maturity, Americans gave greater emphasis than Europeans to family

Life and Parental Kel&tions. Europeans, on the other hand, em­ phasized to a statistically significant degree the inhioiting effects of Comf ort— materialism, Media for I.'ass Communication, ana hducational

Methods.

There is an apparent contradiction in that the Europeans am— pnasized Educational Methods both as facilitating and inhioiting the growth of maturity, however, close examination of the individual items making up the category revealed that modern, stucient_co..tered educational methods vrero listed under those which facilitate maturity.

Authoritarian methods were listed under those which inhibit maturity.

Implications for these findings will be discussed in Chapter V.

C. factor Analysis

An objective questionnaire (copy in appendix) made up from the

generalized descriptions of the minor categories of psychological

maturity, was given to 100 American subjects. Each description was Ihble 8 Differences between Relative Proportion of Responses in those Cultural Categories Containing 20 or more Responses for American and European Samples and their Significance Level Proportion Proportion of Responses of Responses Difference Submitted by Submitted by between gory______Americans____ Europe ans______Proportions____C»R«Cate

rhetors facilitating Growth in Maturity Emphasized by Americans Dating— S ex— Lsarria ge .119 .021 .097 5.6 Youth Movements .078 .060 .018 1.0 Sports .034 .028 . 006 0.5 Emphasized by Europeans Educational Methods .058 .104 .047 2.2 Media for Mass Communication .058 .074 .017 0.9 School Subjects .030 .045 .014 1.0 Contact with Others .04* .058 .013 0.8 Churches— Religion .027 .028 .000 0.0

factors inhibiting Growth in Maturity Emphasized by Americans family Life— Parental Relations .225 .054 .170 5.8 Emphasized by Europeans Media for Mass Communication .045 .136 .097 3.2 Comfort— Materialism .006 .087 .082 3.7 Educational Methods .028 .093 .065 2.7 72 rated by each subject on a seven-point scale, indicating the adequacy of each statement to describe a mature person. These responses were factor analyzed.

Scores were first computed for both minor and major categories for each subject. Product moment correlations between the major categories (Table 9) and tetrachoric correlations between the major and minor category scores (Table 10) were then computed. Tetrachoric correlations were obtained between the scores of each minor category and each major category.

The observed correlations between the minor categories and the major categories were corrected into estimates of loadings on factors by -the WherryJNiner (50) indirect factor method. Results are presented in Tables 11 and 12.

Use of the nharry—Ooolittle method of excluding those categories with insufficient specific variance resulted in Uategorie6 D (Spiri­ tuality— Morality) and H (Relationship to Others) being excluded.

Category A (Physical Characteristics) was rejected at the outset because it contained only one description or minor category. Category K

( General— Complex Characteristics) was dropped because it had no co­ herent psychological description but was made up of the residue of minor categories which could not be unequivocally assigned to any of the oth«r major categories. There remained seven categories:

B— Emotional Stability— Equilibrium C— Sociability E— Personal Accept ability F— Int ellectualism G— Relationship to Self I— Relationship to Reality— Performance J— Abstract Statements about Maturity Table 9 -& Observed Intercorrela cions Between Major Categories

A B C D E V G i; I J K

A

B .30

C .20 .33

D .36 .41 .44

E .38 .47 .59 .66

K .31 .53 .41 .42 .55

r .17 .50 .45 .37 .54 .64

H .27 .49 .45 .63 .71 .54 .67

I .35 .58 .41 .54 .69 .77 .72 .69 j .22 .19 .08 .28 .22 .22 .28 .28

K .39 .70 .42 .60 .74 .70 .62 .73

* Entries are product-moment correlations. N=10U.

73 Table 10

Observed Intercorrelations Between Minor Categories and Major Categories

Minor Major ^ate gories Categories B " t £> EE G H I J K

A .30 .20 .36 .38 .31 .17 .27 .35 .22 .39 B1 .81 .40 .32 .52 .49 .71 .30 .61 -*08 .80 c2 .74 .22 .41 .23 .05 .52 .42 .30 703 .47 d3 .74 .39 .29 .11 .30 .30 .65 .41 .30 .50 Cl .31 .72 .36 .42 .32 .28 .72 .24 .16 .26 C2 .29 .91 .20 .01 .30 .64 .45 .30 .18 .29 D1 .47 .32 .85 .63 .30 .30 .39 .30 .19 .41 »2 .51 .30 .85 .59 .44 .30 .60 .53 .40 .72 Ei .41 .55 .44 .92 .48 .71 .70 • 68 .31 .29 e2 .38 .67 .25 .81 .66 .56 .52 .60 .22 .56 e3 .41 • 86 .44 .68 .40 .42 .52 .55 .09 .68 e 4 .46 .38 .26 .76 .23 .41 .30 .48 .30 .52 e5 .21 .41 .59 .84 .46 .30 .45 .46 .20 .60 .50 .32 .73 .52 .31 .60 .63 .08 .60 E6 .35 h .22 .61 .40 .51 .80 .40 .49 .61 .10 .28 l'z .40 .26 .44 .48 .83 .30 .40 .56 .24 .45 f3 .37 .24 .40 .43 .72 .28 .39 .52 .15 .36 i*'4 .40 .43 .53 .41 .72 .21 .22 .58 .22 .60 f5 .45 .41 .30 .60 .86 .34 .49 .68 .07 .78 Cl .33 .48 .30 .48 .50 .80 .14 .56 .40 .42 ^2 .20 .44 .26 .41 .54 .80 .33 .33 .28 .10 C3 .60 .39 .11 .60 .50 .84 .49 .53 704 .51 C4 .41 .20 .51 .41 .50 .76 .69 .75 .20 .40 «1 .51 .25 .50 .50 .53 .68 .82 .68 .48 .41 d 2 .40 .20 .40 .41 .36 .44 .70 .40 .22 .38 .20 .20 .34 .69 .30 .50 .82 .50 • 3o .54 H4 .49 .37 .60 .25 .23 .18 .40 .41 712 .49 .60 .35 .38 .62 .11 .65 .83 .43 .72 .48

74 'JDabla 10 (Cont’d.)

Minor Maj or Categorie s Categories BC D .E F G HIJ K

II .11 .22 .21 .22 .49 .38 .50 .49 .04 .35 12 .40 .24 .49 .59 .58 .40 .58 .72 .20 .50 13 .45 .28 .02 .44 .52 .40 .39 .64 .22 .60 14 .05 .22 .35 .40 .35 .29 .58 .50 .57 .45 *5 .43 .29 .21 .66 .47 .71 .70 .69 .39 .48 16 .46 .56 .26 .30 .35 .28 .19 .58 .03 .38 I7 .51 .30 .29 .52 .58 .35 .46 .68 .12 .55 ^8 .34 .28 .29 .28 .26 .25 .08 .35 .10 .22 .48 .41 .62 .51 .30 .39 .54 r02 .58 h .66 !l0 .34 .27 .50 .76 .51 .37 .50 .69 .08 .58 111 .51 .38 .50 .48 .59 .20 .49 .72 .39 .29 ^2 TO 5 710 .20 .11 708 .09 .28 .18 .76 rlO <13 .29 T O 8 .28 .10 705 t OI .33 .14 .86 .29 -V1 .74 .40 .62 .74 .20 .40 .49 .51 .40 .72 K2 .39 .28 .30 .45 .08 .29 .40 .46 .48 .53 k3 .48 .29 .60 .27 .30 .32 .60 .54 .21 .62 k4 .42 .39 .31 .70 .50 .28 .57 .62 711 .62 *5 .60 .40 .53 .71 .49 .62 .74 .79 .29 .86 K6 .74 .30 .41 .73 .60 .31 .65 .63 .21 .78 k7 .45 .30 .44 .48 .46 .28 .39 .60 .46 .71 KS .51 .25 .09 .40 .40 .41 .20 .54 t 02 .52 K9 .46 .53 .42 .61 .61 .49 .56 .73 .04 .82 K10 .51 .15 .11 .51 .32 .46 .42 .61 .02 .68 *11 .30 .08 .22 .12 .36 .31 .46 .54 .25 .43 *12 .37 .39 .35 .70 .41 .61 .75 .66 .20 .52

* Entries are Tietrachoric correlations. N=100.

75 'lfcble 11

Corrected. Writer correlations between iiajor Categories

A B C D E F G n I J K

A

B .30

C .20 .47

D .36 .67 • 63

E .38 .64 .71 .90

F .31 .74 .50 .59 .64

■' .17 .71 .57 .53 . 64 *.78 i. .27 .71 .58 .92 .86 .67 .85

1 .35 .58 .41 .54 .69 .77 .72 .69

,1 .22 .31 .12 .46 .30 .31 .40 .41 .33

1, .39 .70 .42 .60 .74 .70 .62 .73 .82 .29

Correction Constants •

1.00 1.28 1.21 1.28 1.07 1.10 1.12 1.14 1.00 1.29 1.00

76 liable 12

Corrected IntercorrelaiiionB Between Minor Categories and Major Categories*

n Minor or Categories ... MaJ Cate gories BC D b FGH IJK

A .39 .22 .46 .40 .34 .19 .31 .35 .29 .39 B1 .86 .45 .41 .55 .54 .79 .34 .61 710 .80 B2 .41 .25 .52 .24 .05 .58 .48 .30 -04 .47 B3 .62 .44 .37 .12 .33 .34 .63 .41 .39 .50 C1 .40 .37 .46 .45 .35 .31 .82 .24 .21 .26 C2 .37 1.00 .26 .01 .33 .71 .51 .30 .23 .29 D1 .60 . 36 .62 .67 .33 .34 .44 .30 .24 .41 DZ .65 .34 .77 .63 .48 .34 .68 .53 .52 .72 Ei .52 .62 .56 .94 .53 .79 .80 .68 .40 .39 e2 .48 .75 .32 .77 .72 .62 .59 .60 .28 .56 e3 .52 .96 .56 .60 .44 .47 .59 .55 .12 .68 E4 .59 .43 .33 .70 .31 .46 .34 .48 .39 .52 % .27 .46 .76 .81 .50 .34 .51 .46 .26 .60 e6 .45 .56 .41 .63 .57 .35 .68 .63 .10 .60 n .28 .68 .51 .54 .74 .45 .56 .61 .13 .28 Fz .51 .29 .56 .31 .77 .34 .46 .56 .31 .45 *3 .47 .27 .51 .46 .61 .31 .44 .52 .19 .36 .51 .48 .68 .37 .64 .23 .25 .58 .29 . 60 n • *5 .57 .46 C cc .64 .87 .38 .56 .68 .09 .78 •

77 Ifable 12

(Gont *d .)

iv-inor Major Categories Categories 6 C DEF G h IJ IV

*1 .14 .25 .27 .23 .54 .42 .57 .49 .05 .35 I2 .51 .27 .63 . 63 .64 .45 • 66 .72 .26 .50 H .57 .31 .02 .47 .57 .45 .44 .64 .28 .60 .25 .45 .43 .38 .32 .66 • 50 .74 .45 h .06 .55 .32 .27 .70 .51 .79 .80 .69 .50 .48 .38 J6 .59 .63 .33 .32 .31 .22 .58 .04 .38 CO ^7 .65 .34 .37 .55 • 64 .39 • w c .68 .16 .55 *8 .43 .31 .37 .30 .28 .28 .09 • 35 .13 .22 19 .61 .46 .85 • 66 • 56 .34 .44 .54 r03 .58 .43 .30 .64 .81 .56 .41 .57 .69 .10 .58 Il(-) ■^11 • t, 5 .43 .64 .51 • 6 5 .22 . 50 .72 .50 .2 9 J2 .06 Til .26 .12 709 . lu .32 .18 .23 710 ^3 .37 TO 9 .36 .11 t05 Tul .38 .14 1.00 .29 K1 .94 .45 .79 .79 .22 .45 .56 .51 .52 .72 l 2 .50 .31 • CO .48 .09 .32 .46 .46 .62 .53 k 3 .61 .32 .77 .29 .33 .36 .69 .54 .27 .62 k 4 .54 .44 .39 .75 .55 .31 .65 .62 714 .62 k 5 .77 .45 .68 .76 .54 .69 .85 .79 .37 .86 K6 .94 .34 .52 .78 .66 .36 .74 .63 .27 .78 k 7 .57 .34 .56 .51 .50 .31 .44 .60 .59 .71 K8 .65 .28 .12 .43 .44 .46 .23 .54 .02 .52 .59 .54 .65 .67 .55 .63 .05 .82 K9 .59 .73 .6 5 .17 .14 .54 .35 .51 .48 .61 • 05 .68 K10 *11 .38 .09 .28 .13 .39 .34 .52 .54 .32 .43 K12 .47 .44 .45 .75 .45 .68 .85 • 66 .26 .52

* Entries are tetrachoric correlations, 11=100, corrected from the observed values by multiplying by the correction constants given in Table 11.

78 79

A seven by seven inter-factor correlation table was constructed from which three centroids were extracted. The final residuals and un­ rotated factor loadings are presented in tables 13 and 14 which indicate that extraction of the three centroids accounted for prac­ tically all of the variance.

The three groups of loadings resulting from extracting the centroids were rotated to a simpler structure and psychological meaningfulness and a general factor was rotated in. ihe rotated

factor loadings are given in Table 15. From this table it can be

seen that loadings on the general factor are all fairly high and

uniform with the exception of Category J— Abstract Statements about

Maturity, this general factor was names Problem-solving Ability,

as it relates to sell', others, and the environment.

the first group factor had most of its loadings in two categories:

C— Sociability and ^— .Personal Acceptability. This factor was named

Social Personality.

The second group factor had most of its loadings in five cate­

gories in the following order of importance* Intellectualism,

Relationship to Reality-Performance, Emotional Stability-Equilibrium,

Relationship to Self, and Abstract Statements about Maturity. This

^roup factor was named Practical Intelligence.

The third group factor emerged from the following four categories:

Abstract Statements about Maturity, Relationship to Sell', nmotional

Stabi lity-Equilibri um, Relationship to Reality-Performance.. This

group factor was named Self-sufficiency. 80

Following is a summary list of the factors of psychological maturity as identified in -che present studyi

Problem-solving Ability, as it relates to self, others, and the

environment

Social Personality

Practical intelligence

Self-sufficiency Table 13

Residuals

B C EF G I J

B

C .01

E .01 .04 • cn F .02 O t 0 2 o o G . .06 ▼03 .04 •I •I o o I .12 .03 .05 to •1 J .05 703 .12 t 03 .06 o

81 Table 14

Unrotated Factor Loadings

BG GIJ GII ®LII E F

B .80 717 .13 .58 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00

C .64 .36 .11 .00 .67 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 CO £ • .32 .18 .00 .00 .42 .00 .00 .00 .00

F .83 t 27 .34 .00 .00 .00 .38 .00 .00 .00 • o a .88 714 705 .00 .00 .00 o .45 .00 .00 i .82 t 23 .20 .oo .00 .00 .00 .00 .51 .00 • o o • j .43 t 38 -32 .00 o o .00 .00 .00 .75

82 Table 15

Rotated Factor Loadings

■—— Category I 11 III IV B C E FG I J CO o o o o B Emotional Stability- • .10 .35 .25 .58 .00 .00 .00 . .00 • Equilibrium o o .

C Sociability .59 .45 .00 .00 .00 .67 .00 .00 • c o • o o CO E Personal Acceptability • .45 .12 .04 .00 .00 .42 .00 .00 .00 .00 o o F Int elle ctualism .77 .00 .50 .10 .00 .00 • .38 .00 .00 .00

G •,ela li onship to Self .70 .16 .31 .42 .00 .00 .00 .00 .45 .00 .00 o o • . I Relationship to .72 .03 .43 .21 .00 .00 .00 c c .51 .00 Reality-Performance

J Abstract Statements .22 710 .23 .57 .00 .00 • uO .00 .00 .00 .75 about Maturity

83 CHAPTKP V

SUKMAKf, CONCLUSIONS, AND DISCUSSION

'Ihe purpose of the present study was threefold: (a) to seek a oomprehensive behavioral definition of psychological matuiity in terms of the qualities commonly considered to comprise it, ^b) to detect any differences in the qualities emphasized by members of two different cultures, and (c) to identify cultural factors which are commonly considered to influence the growth of psychological maturity.

Five questions were investigated:

(1 ) What are the components of psychological maturity as it is seen by young adults from the United States and several European countries?

(2) Do young adults from these countries differ in their con­ ceptions of psychological maturity?

(3) What are the major cultural factors which young adults from the United States several European countries consider influential in the growth of psychological maturity?

(4) Do young adults from these countries differ in the cultural factors they conceive influential in ihe growth of psychological maturity?

(5) Is the quality of other-directedness as discussed by Kiesman (36) evidenced more in the American than in the European view of psychological maturity?

An open-ended questionnaire was presented to young adults from the United States and from three European countries— Belgium, France, and Italy (N«292). Complete freedom of response was permitted in answer to the requests to describe as many qualities as possible which

84 85

characterize a mature person and to list ways in which a given culture

promotes or impedes the development of maturity. Distinct ideas in

these responses were categorized. Following are the categories which

emerged from this process:^-

A. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

B. EMOTIONAL STABILITY-ECiUILIBRIUM

B^. Emotional Stability

Bg. Emotional Control

B3 . Equilibrium

C. SOCI ABILITY

C^. Social Adjustment, Social Graces, Conduct

(%>• Socially Acceptable behavior for One's Age

D. SPIRITUALITY-MOKALITY

D^. Taith-Religious Beliefs

Dg. Moral Code-^ense of Values

E. ffiRSGNAL AC CEFL’ABILITY

El. Sense of humor

E£. Seriousness

e 3. Personality-Individuality

e 4 . Optimism V Healthy Attitude on Sex V Af fe ction-Af f e cci vity F. INTELLECT UALISJyi

F^. Reasonableness

F£. Culture-Knowle dge-Educati on

* These are defined on pp. 52-57. 86

Fg. Critical Mind

F^. Intelligence

F5 . Clarity of ideas-Lucidity

G. RELATIONSHIP TO SELF

Self-knowledge-Self-awareness

&>• Self-confidence

G5. Self-control

G4 . Self-aocept anoe-Self-criticism

K. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHERS

H^. Respect for Others

Hg. Tolerance toward Others

Hg. Consideration for Others

H^. Getting along with Othe rs-Cooperation

He,. Understanding Others

I. RELATIONS HIT TO HALITY-lERi'ORMH CE

1^. Realistic

Ig* Prollcs from Experience

Ig. Adaptability

l4 » Objectivity

15 . Responsibility

16. Decisiveness-Choice

17 . Directionality-Goal-directed

Ig. Conviction-Own Opinions

Iy« Common Sense

Ii0. Perseverance

111* Initiative 87

J. ABSTRACT STATEMENTS ABOUT MATURITY

J^. Vague Definition of Concept

Jg. Rareness or Scarcity of Maturity

J3 . Maximum Development

K. GENERAL OR COMPLEX CHARACTERISTICS

Kq. Emotional Security

K£. Moderation

K3 . Honesty

K^. Dependability

Kg. Reflectiveness

Kg. Broad-minded-Qpemninded

K7 . Judgnent

Kg. Ability to Communicate

Ky. Problem-solving -ability

K^o« Ability to Admit Mistakes-Give/Receive Advice/Criticism

K^-^. Independence

^12* f*0*®1’

The relative proportion of responses in these categories were

compared for the two cultires. An objective questionnaire based on

the emergent psychological maturity categories was yiven to a second

American sample and factor analyzed.

In addition to the psychological maturity categories described

above, categories descriptive of cultural factors that have an effect

on the growth of psychological maturity were reliably identified asi^

flunily Life-Parental Relations

2 These are defined on pp. 61-63. 88

War

Standard of Living

Politi ob-Gove rnment-Law

Media for Mass Communication

Progress

Complex Sodety-Rapid Pace of Life

Disoipline

Comfort-Material ism

Superficiality

Militaiy Service

Diversion-Amus eme nt

Contact with Others

Social Classes-Lnvironment

Social Expectation and Idealization of Maturity

Sports

Youth Movements

Educational Methods

Keading-Study

Schools

School Subjects

Ghurches-Religion-Church Organizations

Dating-Sex-Marria ge

The relative proportion of responses in tnose cultural categories containing 20 or more responses were compared for the two cultures* 89

Conclusions

Tha following conclusions were made from the present study:

(1) The open-ended questionnaire used in gathering the data was reliable and the categories of psychological maturity and of cultural factors were reliably determined.

(2) Young adult Americans and Europeans, as represented by re­ stricted samples from the United States, belgium, 1‘rance, and Italy, had essentially the sam6 conceptions of psychologic&l uaturity. r=.81.

(3) Small, but statistically significant, differences in in­ dividual characteristics of psychological maturity were found, the

Europeans otressin,, intellectual and individualistic qualities.

(4) Americans emphasised behaviors of social significance, which indicates the other-directed tan dency discussed by hiesman (36),

i.e., tliey stress the importance of sociability and relationship with

others. This conclusion rests on small, though statistically sig­ nificant differences between the Americans and Europeans and it was

therefore concluded that this characteristic is not all pervasive

in the American conception of psychological maturity.

(b) Americans and Europeans had different conceptions of what

brings about maturity. Americans emphasized those cultural factors which involve relationship to others. 1hey indicated that wholesome

heterosexual relationships facilitate the growth of psychological maturity whi le overprote cti ve parents and broken families inhibit the

growth of psychological maturity. The Europeans emphasized cultural

factors which affect intellectual ism, stressing student-centered

educational methods as the most important cultural facilitating factor 90 and authoritarian educational methods, comfort and materialism, and media for ua ss communication as cultural inhibiting factors in the

growth of psychological maturity.

(6 ) A limited factor analysis of an objective questionnaire

based on the onpirically obtained categories of psychological maturity

given to a separate American sample generally corroborated the origi­

nal assignment of descriptive items into meaningful categories ana

also revealed more basic groupings, •‘■here emerged a general factor

of Problem-solving Ability as it relates to sell', others, and the

environment, Tnree group factors emerged and these were named

Social Personality, Practical Intelligence, and Self-sufficiency.

Pis cuss ion

The review of the literature indicated that while the concept

of psychological naturity is a broad and ambiguous one, psychoL tlis1 t

ai.d cl h:. rt generally agree on the kinas of be navi or denoted by the

concept. Similarly, throughout the present study there was evidence

of statistically high reliability both in the open-ended responses

to die questionnaire and in categorizing the descriptive items which

composed these responses, -for example, the tast-retest reliability

of tne questionnaire was .89 even tnou^jh the questionnaire was of the

open-ended type which therefore permitted both wide variety and

number of responses, and ambiguity of la n; Tinge. While tne conept

of psycholo ,ical maturity may seem too broad ana ambi uous to yield

meaningful research results, actually young adults’ conceptions of

it are both generally agreed upon and consistent. in addition, per­

sons acting as judges concur to a high degree in classifying state- 91 ments of psychological maturity, These L'acts lend hope to the notion

that further research in Hiis area will be fruitful.

Differences in Concept! ons of Psychological &aturi ty. The differences

between the American and European conceptions of psychological maturity were found to be small, though statistically significant, when the

lack of precision of methods used in the present study— an ot/en-ended

que s ti onnair e in gathering the data and rank-order correlation of

frequency of res, onses in analysis— is considered, certain questions

arise. Are thie differences actually small, as indicated by the study?

Or do the differences indie, te a trend which if more preciso methods

of invostigazion and analysis were used would show up to a much greater

degree? The latter questions seems particularly important since the

American and European differences found are consistent with generally-

held opinions about zh ese rationalities. for example, historians

describing the growth of she United States as a nation point out the

need wnich has b e<>n present from col >nial days for cooperation and

for minimizing differences in Americu. Un the other hana, historians

of Europe describing conditions responsible for the many European

wars often emphasize the European tendency to maximize differences

by placing national and even individual considerations before in­

ternational ones. ■‘■he writer, while gatherin , data for tne present

study, was impressed with what seemed to be a striking example of

this tendency.

Armistice Day was celebrated in faris, during the writer's stay

there, by a very large parade attended by thousands of persons, al 1

apparently commemorating the glory of France at the end of Viorld »«ar I 92 much more than honoring the soldiers who gave their lives in the war.

The fate of France in toorld Kar II seemed of minor importance as did the need to forget differences and strive for international coopera­ tion. irVhether these impressions indicate general differences in orientation between Americans and Europeans cannot be conclusively answered from the present study. They suggest, however, an area for further research.

Other-directedness. Riesman (36) describes the American method for achieving conformity as "other-directjd” , i.e., Americans take their source of direction from their contemporaries, being exceptionally sensitive to the actions and wisho-s of others. Riesman lpp» 36-37) attributes this characteristic to the fact that

there is a decline in the numbers and in the proportion of the working population engaged in production and extraction...— and an increase in the numbers and -he proportion engaged in white- collar woric and the service grades.. .These developments lead, for largo numbers of people, to changes in path6 to success and to the requirement of more "socialized” behavior ooth for success and for marital and personal adaptation.

Following these changes come cnanges in family and child-rearing practices. Old patterns of discipline give way to "permissiveness” so that peer approval becomes increasingly important. Parents em­ phasize this by making the child "feel 0uilty not so much about violation of inner standards as about failure to bo popular or other­ wise manage his relations with these other children." Thus, it comes about ilia , uhe American, not having inner or traditional values or an internal sense of direction, takes his sense of direction and his values from moment to moment from his contemporaries, according to niesraan. 93

This description and explanation of Riesman may be true. An alternate way of understanding the American is through the "melting- pot" philosophy upon which the United States as a nation is based.

This philosophy emphasizes the need to minimize or overlook differences and therefore to tolerate and respect differences but at the same time to cooperate with others in working toward common goals. There has always been a diversity of religious and national backgrounds among the people of this country , particularly in the beginning,as there is in Europe as a whole, but, the fact that this nation was bounded on the principle of freedom for all, regardless of nationality plus the primitive and dangerous conditions of life in the early days have demanded cooperation and unity if only for survival at first. Now this philosophy has become a definite part of the American approach to life.

Cultural factors. Tne cultural factors emphasized by both samples as facilitating or inhibiting the growth of psychological maturity were consistent with the components of psychological maturity emphasized by each. Thus the Americans stressed the importance of relationship to otnars to a much greater extent m a n did Europeans in describing maturity. The single cultural category— Pating-Sex-Marriage— which they stressed as facilitating growth in psychological maturity, dealt with a particularized aspect of relationship to otners— heter- saxual relationships, Similarly, the Americans emphasized only one

cultural factor as impeding the growth of psy chological maturity, and it refers to another aspect of relationship to others Pamily fdpg and

Parental Relations. It must be borne in mind that this evaluation was 94 made by young adults for whom independence and the establishing of adult relationships with their parents are or recently have been major goals in their lives. One might question, therefore, to what extent the needs of the respondants to the questionnaire operated in their evaluation of the importance assigned to both these categories.

The Europeans, who emphasized intellectualism to a much CJreater degree than diu the ^mericans, stressed student-centered, democratic educational Methods as tne most important factor promoting growth in psychological ma turity and authoritarian Educational Methods,

Media for Mass Eommunication, and Comfort-Materialism as impeding factors.

The European emphasis on educational methods may reflect a cur­ rent change taking place in their educational system or an awareness of a need for such a change. If this is so, the Americans woulu have

less need to emphasize this factor since comparstively more ahan^e and stabilization has taken place in the American system of educa­

tion in this respect than has been so to this point in Europe.

One r.ii ,ht question the meaning ox' the European emphasis on com­

fort and materialism as inhibiting factors to Orowth in maturity.

Is this a rationalization— a way of ueing satisfied with existing

conditions? Did it become important for the European students to

emphasize it as participants in ■“merican-conducted research? Its mention by the European participants in the sample at least indicates

that this may be an area of concern. It gives an indication too of

some of the basis for the European dis trust of •‘hnerican material

comforts. By contrast, the writer as an American assumes that comfort, 95 modern conveniences, etc., free a person for tnose experiences which aid growth in maturity. factor Analysis. As part of the factor analysis of the evaluation of the maturity categories by the subsequent American sample, those categories whose specific variance was found 10 be veiy small were removed from further analysis by the **herry-Doolittle selection process*

Although the twelve categories of psychological maturity were identi­ fied with statistical levels of' confidence ranbin.. from .Ob to well below .001, two of these categories (D--Spirituality->orality, and

H— hgla tionship to Others) were found in the factor analysis to be better accounted for by other categories. This becomes understandable in light of the following considerations.

first, the factor analysis was based on ratings of the adequacy

of tne minor categories in describing, a mature person made by an

American sample only. One would expect, therefore, and American bias, if any, to appear in these ratings. fhat such a bias would be

operative is evidenced from the results of oomparin , the initial re­

sponse frequencies which indicated that ^.he Americans emphasized

social behavior in their free responses more strongly than other com­

ponents of psycholobical ;nauurity. •“•be fact that category ri— -Relation­

ship to Others later disappeared in the Ytiherry-poolit tie solection

process, indicates iha t the Americans considered relationship to

others a pervasive cdaracteristic with components in all categorius

of maturity, rather tnan being a discrete entity in itself.

in tryin0 to account for the fact that category D Spirituality —

I.'oral ity was dropped in the Cherry-Doolittle selection process, the 96 number of responses contributed by both American and European samples were examined, ihe frequency of occurrence of those descriptions which ware placed into this category was unexpectedly lew for the

Americans and unexpectedly nigh for the Italians. The latter finding was not unusual insofar as more than half the Italian sample was made up of students studying for the priesthood. This disproportional- ity was found to be significant at beyond the .tul level of confidence when the responses of all four nationality samples were compared with the Chi square (Chi square =17.3). It was concluded that the

Spirituality—itorality category was for the most part a reflection of the particular Italian sample. Its disappearance is consistent with the original lack of emphasis by the Americans.

The fact that the categories of Relationship to Others and

Spirituality—Morality disappeared on an analysis of responses by a different ,_,roup of Americans than that which contributed tne original items strengtnens tne view hat it is an American characteristic to generalize tne importance of social buitaviors and to de-ent.hasize reli iosity as components of psycholo ical maturity.

The factor analysis, in addition to alidating the relative stability oi' tne categorical descriptions of maturity, also revealed some interrelation among the categories, for example, the ;roup factor of Social Personality indicates tne re la t ior.snip between categories of Sociability { o) and Personality Apceptaoi11ty (h).

The factor frucoi cvl intelligence emerged primarily from the re­ lationship of the categories of Ins ell e ctu al ism (f) and Reality —

Performance (_1). Finally, the factor Self-sufficiency depends upon 97 the relationship oi‘ categories he la ti on ship to Self (b) and Abstract

Statements about Maturity (J), which consists mostly o f a description of maturity as trie maximum development o;' .he person.

Interpretation of the factors. Maturity in general is an ability to solve problems and handle situations in whi ch one finds oneself', This implies problem-solvin*. ability as ic relates to the self, to others, ana to the environment. Thus, a mature individual is one who main­ tains a combination of soil', situation, and social approval, each of these representing specific aspects of problem-solving ability'. -“-he tliree are not independent but ^ake part in everythin., the individual does. Any of these three aspects may be emphasized.

The the i,roup factors are minor aspects of psychological maturity.

Social Personality emphasizes the individual's social adjustment— his ability to solve inter-personal problems. Practical ■‘■ntelligonce emphasizes another aspect and is contrasted r.o bocial .Personality_ the ability to use one's own. knowledge and background in the solution ol‘ problems of everyday living. fhe third group factor, Self-sul'ficiency seems to indicate self-ad jus tine nt in some sense of. the word, the in­ dividual's ability to pet along with himself, seeing himself and his goals realistically' arid putting up with the circumstances as he finds them. It seems to have as an integral part of it self-understanding ana self-acceptance. Its major emphasis is on the complete development of the self.

The description of maturity in terms of certain abstract qualities represented in Category _J— Abstract Statements about Maturity, which mainly describes maturity in terms of the maximum development of the 98 person, was seen by the Europeans as much more important than it was by the Africans. 'this quality could be -created as an aspect by itself, particularly when it.s high specific leading is considered* It can be called Maximum Self-development • This aspect of maturity raises tne question of whether bocial Personality is really properly labelled maturity since die factor leadings indicate a tendency for the categories comprisin; it to be in opposition to Category _J. Social Personality, seen in this light, raic ht appear less important from some point,s of view, al though tne loadings of the categories comprising it on the

.oneral factor indicate that it is ri.htly considered a part of maturity, while category J nas small loading on the general factor.

A mature individual might IV11 into any of these three types.

The American would be considered the social type; the European, the intellectual, type. Apparently, it is only the psychologist who would bo interested in the self-sufficiency aspect of mifurity, unit being in a sense the one non-cultural facet of maturity.

The fact that the specific factors maintain themselves, as evidenced by the substantial specific loadings, indicates that the judges were right in setting up and naming the catebones. As for int erpretin... the meaning of he specific factors iwith the exception of J) it is questionable whether they are measures of restricted views of matuii ty or whether they represent what is left when the maturity component is removed, for e. ample, the -tntellectualism category lias a specific loading of .38 plus a nigh loading on the general factor and the group factor of Practical intelligence. The specific loading may 6imuly indicate intelligence, independent of maturity. 99

Character Sketches. The loadings of the individual it ems were examined and arranged in order of their relative importance. The definitions of these items were then combined into the following

character sketches of the three types of psychological naturity rep­

resented by the three Oroup factors.

Social ■tarsonality. This factor describes a person who has

socially acceptable behavior for his age, i.e., he has lost his

cnildish ways ana acts like an adult, tie has a unified, distinct,

coherent, ana pleasing personality which implies that he lias a certain

individuality or singularity about him and always gives the impression

of having his own integrity.

Practical -intelligence. This factor describes a person who has

a general cultural background, knowledge of a number of fields, a

complete technical and professional education, he is clear-sighted

and has an alert mind, learning through his own or others' experience,

profiting from mistakes and irevising his opinions or beliefs as a

result of experience, he gives evidence of [-ersevarance, tenacity,

endurance, steadfastness and patience in the things he undertakes,

he has a sufficiently developed intelligence which he uses in assuming

responsioility for himself and his own acions as well as for oiiiers

and the things in hi6 care, he accepts and faces reality, meeting

problems rather than avoiding them. He nas a _oal and works toward

it and in so doing gives evidence of havin his own philosophy of life,

he acts by reason instead of feeling and is objective in judging

situations, persons, himself, and in giving criticism, he shows

initiative, inventiveness, and creativity when the occasion calls for 100 it. He critically evaluates facts, -theories, events, ideas and is always sensible, using common sense in Wiatever he does.

SeIf-sufficiency. This factor describes a person who has reached the peak at' his development— mentally, morally, and spiritually.

He has confidence in himself, poise and self-assurance and has self-

control at all times, even under stress. He accepts himself as he is, his abilities and limitations. At the same time he is aole to

criticize himself, recognizing his faults and shortcomings.

Comparing the categories of psychological maturity identified

in this study with the conceptions of maturity found in the literature,

one finds that with few exceptions this study includes those concep­

tions found in the literature. Absent from the present study was any

reference to coiflict, mentioned by ■‘Hlport (2, 3), Horney (23), and

Symonds (43), stability of interests, mentioned by Strong (42), or

attitudes tcward worries and wrongs mentioned by Hressey (33, 34J.

Allport (2, 3), tiaslow (31), and Alexander (l) mention the

necessity of security for growth in maturity to take place and

psycholo^.s ts generally consider security requisite for healthy

personality development. It was therefore interesting that so few

responses (three for the American and none for the European) were

given in the category of Emotional Security. It is difficult to

know how to account for this. Is it that young adults are unaware of

the basic need for security in maturity, chat actually they consider

it relatively unimportant, or that they assume its presence for a

person to be mature? 101

In an overall comparison of the categories of psychological maturity with the concepts found in the literature, the main discrepancy lies in the relative number of components listed by each author as contrasted with the number identified in the study. Apparently, maturity is a highly complex concept and most discussions of its components are at this stage apt to be incomplete.

There is little basis fb r comparison of the factors of psycho­ logical maturity identified in this study and the discussions of na turity found in the literature, since the two represent different methods.

The factors represent a description of those conceptions of psycho­ logical maturity presented in the study in terms of the fewest explana­ tory constructs. As far as the writer can determine, none of the writings reviewed attempt to describe maturity in this way. father,

these writings elaborate many c m raoteristics of maturity. To make such a comparison would necessitate a factor analysis of iie com­ ponents of maturity found in the literature. from an examination of the agreement between the htorasure descriptions of maturity and the

categories identified in this study, one could predict similar results from a factor analysis of the literature descriptions. One would pre­ dict also differin : emphases on components of maturity since the litera­

ture discussions contain almost entirely the American viewpoint.

Limitations of the Present Study. The present study, wnile throwing

some light on the components of psychological maturity and the cultural factors which affect its growth, is limited, borne of the more ob­ vious limitations are as follows, it was considered outside the scope

of tne present study to differentiate betv.een qualities of psycho— 102 logical maturity which cultures expect for males and females, ihe fact that there is a diversification of male and female roles par­ ticularly in European and Oriental countries, raises the question of whether the components of psychological maturity as identified in this study are considered applicable to both sexes in these cultures.

ihe sample used was neithor completely representative of the countries used r.or complete ;y representative of existing cultur es.

Oriental views probably differ in many respects from those views hela in Western civilization, i'o have neglected the Oriental cultures is to iiave ;reatly limited die genera] applicability of die identified conceptions of psychol picul maturity and the cultural factors which influence its growth.

A further limitation imposed on tne study by the samples com­ pared is eic fact tnas sney represent on±y young uauIt s, and r elativefy

hi gill y educated young adults at that. i'o determine a universal definition of psychological maturity, samples representative of otner a0o levels ana otner educational levels ara required.

In die review of tne literature, some comparison was made among the areas of agreement among psvohologists and others in their con­ ceptions of maturity. A much more precise analysis of these coulc. bo acnieved, aichur oy a factor ana lysis as discussed above or by having judges rate the similarity of the components discussed by the various authors taking int: account aii'ferencos of terminology out similarity

01 meanin;j. further, no attempt was made to review the for ei__;n litoraturo on the subject of psychological maturity. 103

Implications and Suggestions for Further Research. In Chapter I it was suggested that the dearth of experimental investigations of maturity may be due to tne complexity of the concept. For example, there are no satisfactory biological correlates of naturity which irw vactiga. iUrs might use as criteria for die me asur ement of naturity.

Secondly, psychological maturity doesn't occur automatically as does physical maturation (given certain basic conditions) and ney never occur. Further, maturity' is an uneven trait, i.e., an individual may be mature in one area and not in another. Lastly, maturity may even be to a large extent dependent upon the specific situation in which an individual fines himself, these considerations discourage efforts at research on maturity.

In spite of these dii'fic ultie s, the review of the literature ana tne result s of the .resent study inaic; to . ,ie tne re is ( eneral agreement on the behaviors connoted In the concept of psychological maturity. This implies that beiiavioral research in tnis area should increase our understanding of mature behavior considerably and tnat

tiiis will eventually lead to ways to increase maturity as Rooinson

(37, p. 2b0) indicates there is a need. Also implied is the aware­ ness that research dealing with behavior as it can be observed in its nutural setting as opposed to setting up special experimental laboratory conditions will yield meaningful result s. The advantage oi this type of research particularly in the aroa of psychological maturity is its close relationship to life—situations. This does away with the need for evaluating the applicability of laboratory research to life-situations . 104

The ihct that the characteristics of psychological maturity have been reliably identified from the limited sample used in she present, study, indicates the need so extend she sample and therefore either corroborate or extend the identified beievioral characteristics of psychological maturity.

Specifically this could be carried out by the construction of an objective questionnaire based on the results ox the factor analysis. This questionnaire shoulu then be administered to largo numbers of people for better intercult ural comparisons. This being accomplished, an objective que sti onr.aire based on ohe findings of the previous research, made up ox' discrete behavioral descriptions with which one can eitiier rate oneself or otners, should be constructed, external criteria in the farm of teacher, employer, peer, or psychologists ratings or performance in specified situations should bo set up as validating measures of the questionnaire.

identification of the cultural factors affeclin,, tin growth of psychological maturity leads to othor paths of further research. A first question to be investigated is in what w & y s do these cultural factors encourage or discourage growth in maturity? A related question is vixat specific beliaviors does each cultural factor promote or impede? Answers to these questions can provide ways to stimulate growth in maturity. Appendix

105 'liables 16 - 26

Inter-rater Reliability for Rive Judges in Assigning Minor Categories to Major Categories*

liable 16

Category A. Physical Characteristics

Judges 1 2 3 4 5

1 .018 .018 .018 .018

2 .018 .018 .018

3 .018 .018

4 .018

5

Table 17

Category B. Emooiunal Stability— Equilibrium

Jud gas 1 2 3 4 5

1 .072xlC“3 .052 .004 .oeoxio-4

2 .052 .004 .048x10“4

3 .052 .038 o 4 .048x10-c

5

* The figures reported show the probability that the agreement could have arisen by chance. Reliabilities were calculated by fisher’s exact probability method.

106 107

Table 18

Category C. Sociability

Judges______1______2______3______4______5 _

1 .001 .001 .001 .001

2 .001 .001 .001

3 .001 .001

4 .001

5

liable 19

Category D» Spirituality— Morality

Jud ges 1 2 3 4 5

1 .004 .004 .012 .012

2 .004 .004 .004

3 .002 .002

4 .006

5 108

Table 20

Category E. Personal Acceptability

Judges 1 2 3 4 5

1 .029X10-4 .043xl0-2 .OStlxlO-3 •091x10“3

2 .038xl0-4 .071xl0“3 .071x10“3

3 .007 .001

4 .001

Table 21

Category- F. Intellectual ism

Jud gee 1 2 3 4 5

1 .091x10“3 . 003 .082xl0-4 .004

2 .001 ,035xl0“3 •035xl0“3

3 .036x10“3 .024xl0“5

4 .017x10-4

5 109

Ifeblo 22

Category G» Relationship to Seif

Jud ges 1 2 3 4 5

1 .015x10-5 .012x10-5 .003 .012xl0-5

2 .015X10"3 .007 .015x10-3

3 .003 •012x10“3

4 .003

5

Ihble 23

Category 11. Relationship to hers

Judges 1 2 3 4 5

1 •029xl0-5 .029x10-5 .016xl0“2 .017x10-4

2 .029xl0“5 .016xl0-3 .017x10-4

3 .016x10-5 .017x10—4

4 .091x10-5

5 110

fable 24

Category I. Relationship to Realiiy-Performance

Jud ges 1 2 3 4 5

1 .051x10-4 .051x10-4 .051x10-4 .049x10-6

2 .79xl0-3 .001 .022x10-4

3 .003 .085x10-4

4 .085x10-4

5

J-’able 25

Category J. ■^•bstr^ct Statements about Maturity

Judges 1 2 3 4 5

1 .038x10-3 .038xl0-3 .038x10-3 .038x10-3

2 .038x10-3 .038x10-3 .038x10-3

3 .038x10-3 .038x10-3

4 .038x10-3

5 Ill

Table 26

Qategory L. Miscellaneous

Judges 1 2 3 4 5

1 .016 .018 .054 .018

2 .018 .054 .018

3 .054 .018

4 .054

5 Questionnaires

112 RESEARCH ON PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY*

Background Data

1. Name ______

2. Age ______

3. Sex ______li. College ______

Class (circle one) I, II, III, IV, Grad., Spec.

If special, please explain status ______

5. Year and quarter you entered Ohio State ______

6 . Father's occupation ______

7. Occupation you are preparing for ______

8. How is your education being financed? (Check as many as necessary)

a. Scholar ship ____ b. Your own w o r k ____

c. Family expense ____ d. G.I. bill _

e. Other aid ____

* This is a copy of the questionnaire presented to the American sample.

113 114

Psychological maturity is not easy to define. In this re­ search we are attempting to find out just how most people define it for themselves. In a general way, some people think of a person who acts like an adult as being mature. But this does not really tell us much about maturity. In this research, we are interested only in what you think of when you say a person is mature. For this reason, you are asked to consider the following questions about maturity and express your thought in answer to the following points:

1. Describe as many qualities as you can which in your opinion characterize a mature person.

2. Think of a situation in which a person acted maturely. Des­ cribe the person’s behavior as adequately as you can. Think of a situation in which a person showed a lack of matur­ ity. Describe the person1s behavior as adequately as you can.

List some ways in which our culture, in your opinion,promotes the development of maturity and other ways in which you think it im­ pedes the development of maturity. RECHERCHES SUR IE SUJET DE MATURITE PSYCHOLOGIQUE*

I. VEUILLEZ REPONDRt AUX QUESTIONS SUIVaNTES:

1. Nationalite ______2. Age ______3» Sex ______

h . Diplomes ______

5. Quel diplome preparez-vous actuellement? ______

6 . Depuis quelle annee preparez-vous pour ce diplome? ______

7. Dans quelle position scolaire etiez-vous a votre baccalareat?

Preraier 2$% ______Milieu $0% ______Inferieur 20% ______

a) Avez-vous ete recu avec une mention a votre baccalareat? ______

Si oui, quelle mention? ______

8. Profession du pere ______

a) Qu'avez-vous I 1intention de faire apres avoir termine vos etudes?

b) Comment considere-t-on votre profession dans votre pays?

Le plus superieur ____ Superieur___ M o y e n ____ Base ____

9 . Avez-vous une bourse d'etudes? Oui ___ Non ____

a) Faites-vous vos etudes aux frais de votre famille? Oui Non

b) Si vous-avez une bourse, avez-vous, en plus, une aide de votre famille? Oui Non Autre aide? Oui Non

■* This is a copy of the questionnaire presented to the French and Belgian sample.

116 117

II. ALORS, ECRIVEZ VOS REPONSES CONCERNANT LA MATURITY] PSYCHOLOGIQUE:

II n'est pas facile de definir la maturite psychologique. La plu- part des gens pensent qu'une personne a atteint cette maturite quand elle agit en adulte. Dans notre recherches, nous voudrions seulement savoir ce que vous pensez exactement quand vous dites de quelqu'un qu'il a atteint la maturite. C'est votre opinion qui nous interesse. Nous vous demandons de bien vouloir repondra sans communiquer avec vos camarades.

1. Decrivez toute les qualites qui, a votre avis, caracterisent la maturite.

2. Pensez a une situation concrete dans laquelle la reaction d*une personne a montre de la maturite. Decrivez 1'attitude de cette personne aussi exactement que possible. 118

3. Pensez a une situation concrete dans laquelle la reaction d'une personne a manque de maturite. Decrivez 1*attitude de cette per­ sonne aussi exactement que possible.

*i. Pouvez-vous enumerer quelques facons propres a votre civilisation pour developper la maturite et, au contraire, d*autres faits qui entravent son developpement. RICHERCHE SUL SOGGETTO DELLA MATURITA PSICOLOGICA*

I. VOGLIATE RISPONDERE ALLE SEGUENTI DOMANDE:

1. Nazionalita______2. Eta______3. Sesso_____

U. Diplomi______

5. Quale diploma preparate attualmente? ______

6. Quale votazione avete riportato nell'esame di licenza liceale?

7. Professione del padre ______

a) Che cosa avete intenzione di fare una volta terminati i vostri studi? ______

b) Come viene considerata la vostra professione nel vostro paese?

La migliore _____ Superiore _____ Media Inferiore______

8. Avete una borsa di studio? Si No _____

a) Fate ivostri studi a spese della vostra famlglia? Si ___ No____

b) Se avete una borsa, avete, in piu, un aiuto della vostra famiglia?

Si No Altri aiuti? Si No

* This is a copy of the questionnaire presented to the Italian sample.

119 120

II. ALLORA, SCRIVETE LE VOSTRE RISPOS'IE CUNCERNENTI LA MATURITA PSICOLOGICA.

Non e facile definire la maturita psicologica. La maggior parte delle persone pensa che uno ha raggiunto questa maturita quando egli agisce da adulto. Nelle nostre ricerche, noi vorremmo soltanto sapere cio che voi pensate esattamente quando dite che qualcuno ha raggiunto la maturita. E la vostra opinions che ci interessa. Noi vi domandiamo di avere la compiacenza di rispondere senza coBUhicare con i vostri compagni.

1. Descrivete tutte le qualita che, secondo voi, caratterizzano la maturita.

2. Pensate ad una situazione concreta nella quale la reazione di una persona ha mostrato della maturita. Descrivete l'atteggiamento di questa persona il piu esattamente possidile. 121

3. Pensate ad una situazione concreta nella quale la reazione di una persona ha mancato di maturita. Descrivete l'atteggiamento di questa persona il piu esattamente possibile.

U. Potete enumerare qualche modo proprio alia vostra civilta per sviluppare la maturita, e, al contrario, altri fatti che im- pediscono il suo sviluppo. RATI M G OF MATURITY STATEMENTS

Among your various acquaintances there are probably some whom you consider psychologically mature* others, whom you consider less mature*

We are trying to arrive at an adequate way of describing psycho­ logically mature persons. We have assembled a number of statements, some of which may be more important than others as descriptions of psychologically mature persons.

You may think of a person or persons whom you consider psycho­ logically mature. CAREKULLY READ EACii STATEi.nd,T and indicate how im­ portant it is as a description of such persons. If the statement is of the greatest possible importance, then circle the number 7. If the statement is completely unimportant as a description of a mature person's behavior, put a circle around the number 1. If you judge the statement to be somewhere between these z wo extremes in its im­ portance, Tihen put a circle around the number which best describes the degree of importance of that statement.

The degrees of importance are as follows:

1. Completely unimportant

2. Somewhat important

3. Moderately important

4. Quite important

5. Very important

6. Very, very important

7. Greatest possible importance

Be sure to note all the statements.

12 2 12 3

Example:

A. This person wears blue sox* Q 2 3 4 5 6 7

****

1. This person admits his mistakes without shame. He profits from criticism or suggestions without being hurt. He gives and re­ ceives advice from others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. This person adapts himself to all circumstances and situations. He knows what to do and when to do it. He handles critical situations when they arise. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3. This person can carry on a conversation or discussion with all kinds of people. He is able to express his thoughts, opinions and knowledge. He is also able to listen. He knows what to say and what not to say. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. This person shows warmth and affeotion to persons who are close to him. He likes people. He shows feeling about ideas or things that interest him. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5. This person has a broad outlook on life. He doesn't attach great importance to little details. He isn't petty. In other words, he is broad-minded. He has an openness of mind, ready to learn new ideas, He doesn't consider himself as having the final answer. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6. This parson thinks clearly and calmly. He has an alertness of mind, lie has clear ideas. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7. This person uses common sense. He is sensible. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8. This person shows consideration of others. He is thoughtful, kind, unselfish, and generous. He is willing and wants to help because he is interested in others. He likes to give as well as receive. He isn't self-centered. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9. This person acts according to his own convictions, opinions, and personal views* He ^as by what he ^hinks . He isn't easily influenced by nor readily changed by situations, others' opinions or new acquaintances. He is able to assert, hold, and defend his own position. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10. This person analyzes and critically evaluates facts, theories, events, and ideas. He is able to foresee reactions and dif­ ficulties in situations for himself and others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 124

11. This person has a general cultural background. He has knowledge of a number of fields, of a wide variety of subjects, of arts and scienoes, of life, and of different kinds of people. He is interested in current affairs in general and has a wide range of interests, lie has a love for truth, for beauty, for study. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

12. This person makes decisions independently and carries them out. He makes up his own mind. He makes choices independently accord­ ing to his own principles and lives by them. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

13. This person is dependable, loyal, and trustworthy. He keeps his word. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

14. This person has a goal and works toward it. He follows the path he has decided on. ne takes the means to achieve his goal. He knows what he wants from life. He has questioned and understands the purpose of life. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

15. This person controls his emotions, temper, impulses, and feelings. He is slow to anger and not easily excited. He doesn't show his feelings too much. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

16. This person is emotionally secure. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

17. this person indicates that he has stable attitudes and character, ne has a sense of solidarity, lie does not have a wide range of emotional ups and downs. He does not become excessively emo­ tionally upset. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

18. This person is well-balanced psychologically, pnysically, mentally, morally, and in all his actions. He has a certain equilibrium in his intellectual, emotional, and motivational life. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

19. This person has faith in a Divine being as well as other spiritual beliefs, he reasons about religion and God. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

20. This person is able to adjust to and get along with all kinds of people under any conditions whether he likes them or not. he has and values good re lationships with others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

21. This person is honest, frank, sincere, straightforward, and humble (not in the Uriah Keep sense of the word but in the sense of being truly what he is). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 125

22. This person is independent. He thinks for and acts by himself. He doss his own work. He does not depend on the opinions others have of him. He is self-sufficient and has self-determination. He takes care of himself financially and otherwise. He has a certain internal freedom and liberty. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

23. This person takes initiative. He uses his own abilities and potentialities. Ha is sometimes inventive or creative. He is not afraid to take a chance. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

24. This person has a certain level of intelligence which is suf­ ficiently developed. He may or may not be outstandingly bright but he acts intelligently. He is mentally mature and has mature ideas. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

25. This person makes deep, clear, non-rash, personal, just, sound, considered, independent, objective judgments of ffects, ideas, and situations. He is constant in his judgments. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

26. This person has reached the peak of nis development— mentally, morally, and spiritually. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

27. This person is even-tempered, serene, calm, composed, and tranquil. He has always a more or lass equal disposition or humor, ne is not an extremist but rather takes a midale position. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

28. This p rson has a moral code, a code of ethics, or moral principles. He stands up for what he thinks is ri6ht. He lives according to moral principles, to the truth as he knows it. he knows ri ,ht from wrong. He has a scale of values by which he acts. He can give things a just value, neither over- nor under-amphasizin,_ their importance. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

23. hhis person is objective in judging situations, persons, himself, and in giving criticism. He is impartial and does not let subjectivity enter into his judgments and decisions, ne knows how to go oui.side his own feelings and point of view. He gets facts or proof before judging, considering all sides and ex­ amining contrary evidence. He avoids ar._,uintJ when he knows nothing about a subject. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

30. This person is optimistic, ne lias courage, hope, and joy. ne does not give in to despair, discouragement, or defeatism. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

31. This person has perseverance, tenacity, endurance, stead­ fastness, and patience. He knows how to wait. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12 6

32* This parson has a personality which is pleasing, unified, dis­ tinct, and coherent. He has a certain individuality or sin­ gularity. He shows integrity. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

33. This person is fully developed physically, physiologically, and morphologically. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

34. This person is able to realize, meet, cope with, and handle problems for himself. He has a method for solving problems. He has a systematic method of work.l 2 3 4 5 6 7

35. This person profits from his own mistakes. He learns through his own or others’ experience. He revises his opinions or beliefs as a result of experience. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

36. This person, because he is psychologically mature, is unusual because maturity is difficult to attain and rarely attained. hq is unusual in the sense that not all adults are mature. One may be physically but not psychologically mature. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

37. This person accepts reality with its demands, controversies, contradictions, disappointments, successes and failures. His judgments are based on reality. He sees things as they are and knows how to distinguish reality from the way he would like things to be. He recognizes people for what they are. He understands and respects the law. ne faces problems rather than avoiding them. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

38. This perton is reasonable, That is, he acts by reason instead of by feeling, he is able to think logically, to deal with abstract ideas, to analyze and abstract the core of an idea or situation and how to grasp a whole. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3t). This person reflects, considers or thinks before acting or speaking. He thinks through and does not jump to conclusions. He knows how to think. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

40. This person has respect for others— their ideas, beliefs, attitudes, religion, opinions, politics, ways of thinking and feeling. He appreciates others, their boodness, and their freedom. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

41. This person assumes responsibility for himself, his own actions, for others when necessary and for things under his care. He is aware of duty and obligations as well as rights. He works to the bestof his ability. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 127

42. This person accepts himself as he is, with his limitations, and abilities. He has a certain love and regard for himself, knowing his worth is independent of others' approval. He realizes his own value. At the same time he is able to criti­ cize himself, recognizing his own faults and shortcomings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

43. This person has self-confidence. He has poise, self-assurance, and trust in himself. In some ways, you might say he is sophisticated. He is not insecure or timid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

44. This person has self-control, self-ma6tery, or control of hint, self at all times, ne knows how to refrain from doing something or to deny himself when necessary. He lias control of himself under stress. He knows how to keep cool in emergencies, crises, or difficult situations. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

45. This person recognizes, knows, and understands himself, the meaning of his life, his place in life, his own mind, capa­ cities, limitations, needs, wishes, rights, and duties. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

46. This person has a sense of humor. He can cake a joke. He knows how to enjoy himself. He doesn't take himself too seriously. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

47. This person is serious in his actions, his work, and interests. He understands the seriousness of life. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

48. This person has a healthy attitude toward sex. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

49. This person has social graces, such as, tact, finesse, prudence, discretion, politeness, and neatness. He is well-mannered, cheerful, pleasant, vivacious, and enthusiastic, ne acts like a gentleman (or, she acts like a lady.) Tie acts in accordance with the norms of society. He is socially adjusted. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

50. This person acts like an adult. He doesn't have childish ways or talk like a child. Tie doesn't act silly or foolish, ne is uf an adult age. 1234567

51. This person is tolerant of others, their thoughts, religion, and views. He doesn't lock down on inferiors, ^e is free from prejudice. He is willing to see others' points of view or to put himself in others' places, lie accepts other persons, con­ sidering their opinions even though these differ from his own. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12:8

52. This parson understands others— their character, likes, dis­ likes, and faults. In a way, you might say he has intuition, he is sympathetic and not sarcastic.1 2 3 4 5 6 7

53. This person has will power and character, he uses his will, restraining or controlling it ntfien necessary, he is able to sacrifice when required to do so. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Alexander, F. Fundamentals of psychoanalysis. hew York: Norton, 1948.

2. A l l port, G. P e r s o n a l i t y . Ne w York: henry xiolt, 1987.

3. Allport, G. Becoming. New naven: Yale Ur.i sorsiti Prf r t , P..3..

4. Bromberg, ft. Emotional ii.maturxty and antisocial behavior. c^-Yn . Psychopath., 1947, 8, 423-452.

5. iiuhler, C. Der menschliche lebenelauf als p62veholoLrischo3 problem, 1933, summarized in Bn lish by Frenkel, h., Ciiar. and Per s., 1936, 5, 1-34.

6. Cole, L.B. ana Bruce, «.F. nducuticnal psycholo;,y. J.ew York: ..or Id, 1950.

7. Cowley, ft.-i. Jabberwooky versus maturity in nilliamson, E.G. Irenas in student personnel work. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota hress, 1949.

8. Doll, Edgar A. Pho vineland socia1 maturity scale, revised condensed manual ox' directions, hew Jersey: "Vineland 1 raininr Lchool, 1936.

9. By singer, e.g. ;..aturation ar.n vocat ional Miawioo. Oc xupacions, 19fiu, 29, lad— 2Ul.

10. Edwards, A.L. statistical analysis fcr s tudan -.s in psychology anci education. ..ew York: ixinehart, 1946.

11. nilbert, L.n. * study ox' emotional immaturity utilizin, the critical inciLoent technique. Univjr. Pittsburgh cull., 1953, 4a, 19 9-204. * '

12. Fishnr, k.L. x'he intermediate role and emotional iiiuia tun. ..y • heuropsy ohiat., 1952-53, 2, 141-152.

13. Fisher, B.i. ana lat..-s, F. Statistical tables for biological, agricultural, and medical r us ear ch. -e». York: nafner, 3rd ed., 1948.

14. Frank, h.y, mtroauc cion: the concept of maturity'. Child Develonm., 1950, 2, 21-24.

15. Frank, L, Frogman, «i.M, Greulich, > < , mechsler, U., nislik, S . ihe concept of naturity from the anatomical , physiolo;.;Lcs.l, and psychological points of view. Child Develop^., 1950, 21, 19-60.

129 130

16. hartshorne, in., ^ y , M.A., and Shuttleworth, P.P. Studies in the organization of character. Hew Yorks Macmillan, 1930.

17. liavighurst, k.J. and Tabe H. Adolescent character and person­ a l i t y . H o w York: n'iley and Sons, 1949.

IB. hoflinan, A.E. A study of reported behavior changes in counseling. _J. consult^ Psychol., 1949, 13^, 190-195.

19. hoffman, A.E. An investigation of The relationship between autitudinal changes and r eportod overt beha vioral chan gas. li.A. thesis: Univer. of Chic., 1948.

20. hollingworth, L.S. ihe psychology of the adolescent, new Yorks D. Appleton.

21. nollingworth, L.S. Late adolescence. Westminster Leader, 1931, _5, 24-25.

22. iiolfingworth, L.s. The adolescent child, chap. 23 in hanooook of chi Id psy chol , editod by murchison, C. norchoster, iass.i Clark university -tress, 1933. 23. u 23. norney, K. Our inner conflicts, hew York: Norton, 1945.

24. ti or rocks , J .E. Personal communication, i.Ay 1954.

23. aorrocks, u.t. Tne adolescent, chap. 11 in —anual of cnild psycholofy , 2nd ed., edited by Carmichael, L. nui< York: diley, 1954.

26. aahn, rj. Liber reife und rie.'in (On maturity and maturing) S o n w o i z . -arch, i.eurol. P s y c h i a t , 1951, 67, 46-51.

27. King, P.vi. Emotional raa t ur i ty : its nature and measurement. Ph.D. dissertation, narvard university, 1951.

28. Iluder, O.p., kicierdson, i.'.B. the theory of estimation of test reliability. Psyohometrika, 1937, j2, 151-154.

29. Lindemann, L. and Creer, i.li. Emotional maturity. J. -Pastoral C a r e , 1949, j5, l_.ll® —

30. iiiaeder, L.A.fi. Diagnostic criteria5 the concept oi' normal and abnormal. rarnily, 1941 , 22 , 171-17 9.

31. has low, A.n. Motivation and personality, hew York: harper, 1954. 131

32. Meyer, A. The meaning ox‘ maturity, chap. 15 in iVisher, b.C. and Gruemsberg, S.M., eds., Our ohildren. New York: Viking, 1932.

33. Pressey, S.L. and Pressey, L.c. A comparative study of the emotional attitudes and interests of Indians and white children, _J. Appl. Psychol., 1933, P7, 535-541.

34. Pressey, S.L. and Pressey, L.C. Development of the interest- attitude tests. J. Appl. Rsychol., 1933, 17, 1-16.

35. Papaport, A. Operational philosophy". New Yorks narper and Bros., 1954.

3b. Riesman, I)., at al. iha lonely crowd. few Yorks roubleduy and Co., 1954.

37. Robinson, P.P. Principles and procedures of student counseling. New York: harper and Bros., 1950.

38. Sheldon, it.A* Psychology and Gib promethean will. Lew York: harper, 1936.

39. Solomon, P. Lmotional maturity. Ann. west. ked. Surg., 1948, 2, 12-15.

40. Stead, IN.ri., ar.u Siartle, C.L. Occupational counseling techniques. hew York: American book Co., 1940, Appendix V, 245-250.

41. Sto^dill, n . M., S Xia rtle, C.L., Nnerry", L • U •,

42. Strong, L.K. Vocational interests of men and v.'omen. Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1943.

43. Symonds, P.M. Dynamic psychology, New York: Appleton-Cantury — Crofts, 1949.

44. Tindall, R.H. Relationships among indices of adjustment status. Lduc. and Psychol, uleasm., 1955, 15, 152-162.

45. walker, n.M. and Lev, l. Statistical inference, taw fork: lfenry' holt, 1953.

46. easnburn, J.w. ihe interpretation of adolescent psychology aid needs. Teach. Coll. Lee., 1940, 250—264.

47. Washburn, J.'u. T h e impulsions of adolescents as revealed by written wishes. J_. juv. Res., 16, 1932, 193-212. 132

#3. »ieber, C.Q. The Wells emotional fag;9 scale, i. inneapolis * Educa­ tional Test oureau, 1933.

49. Wechsler, D. Intellectual development and psychological maturity. Child hevelopm., 1950, _21, 45-50.

50. Wherry, R.J. and Winer, B.J. A method for factorxnlarge numbers of items • Psychometrika, June 1953, 18, 161-179.

51. Willoughby, k .k . Willoughby E-It (, emotional-matu ricy j seal a. Palo Alto, Stanford University Press, 1931. AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I, nita Malcnay Versace, was born in Columbus, Ohio, April 2,

1923. I received my elementary and secondary school education in

the parochial schools of Columbus, Ohio. My undergraduate training was obtained at St. Maiy of the Springs College, from which I

received the degree Bachelor of Arts in 1950 and the Ohio College

Tuition Scholarship to Ohio State University. From iiiis institution

I received the degree Master of Arts in 1952. During the course of

my graduate studies I acted in the capacity of graduate assistant

and teaching assistant. In the fall of 1954, I had the opportunity

to go to Prance. While there I received a scholarship from the

Columbus Soroptimist Club which aided in the gathering of data for

this dissertation.