Maturity in Adulthood: Age Trends in Narrative-based Social Cognition and Object Relations Scores

Modern psychodynamic theories define maturity in terms of representations of self and others. Development of these representational processes is proposed to continue well into the adult years. Highly structured, self-report methodologies of personality assessment may fail to measure these latent con...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Galtieri, Liana R
Format Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Published ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2016
Subjects
Developmental psychology
Psychology
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Summary:Modern psychodynamic theories define maturity in terms of representations of self and others. Development of these representational processes is proposed to continue well into the adult years. Highly structured, self-report methodologies of personality assessment may fail to measure these latent concepts of maturity, but narrative data may be more successful. The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale – Global Rating Method (SCORS-G) examines narratives based on eight dimensions of personality functioning relevant to psychological maturity. The SCORS-G was applied to narratives told in response to picture stimuli gathered from 100 participants in a community sample to investigate changes in personality across a wide age range (22-78 years). There was a significant interaction between age and gender on affect tone, such that younger women had significantly more positive expectations of relationships than younger men. There were no significant age effects or gender differences for any of the other seven SCORS-G dimensions.
ISBN:9781369047714
1369047711