Since Barron(1953) developed Ego strength scale(Es) to predict the response of psychoneurotic patients to psychotherapy, several other investigators have obtained evidence that the scale predicts improvement in psychotherapy as well as providing
an
index of "psychological health". However no T-score conversion norms for this scale have been available in Korea.
The purpose of this study was to inhance the accuracy of the scale's measurements through item analysis, to identify its factorial structure, and to provide normative tables for the Es scale based on restandardization sample of Korean version
MMPI
@ES The results were as follows:
@EN (1) From the item analysis 48 items were extracted as more valid items among the original 68 items
(2) Nine factors were extracted as a result of the factor analysis abased on this 48 items. The extracted 9 factors were : absence of symptoms and a strong sense of reality, emotional wellbeing, physical wellbeing, seeking heterosexual
stimulation,
absence of fear, stability(controllability) and seeking new stimulation, denial of weakness, and nonreligious attitude.
(3) responses from the restandardization sample yielded consistently lower mean scores than appeared in the American normative samples.
(4) The male obtained higher Es score than the female, this result was similar to that of many other studies.
(5) The Es scale did not distinguish the normal from the clinical subjects successfully.
(6) The Es scale failed to differentiate between the neurotic group and schizophrenic group.
(7) Normative tables of 68 Es and 48 Es by sex, and education were tentatively presented.
Further research is needed with a clinical sample to assess the Es scale's predictive power for response to psychotherapy. Also, the construction of the new ego strength scale which is made of items that maximize the differentiation between the
improved
and the unimproved in psychotherapy is needed.
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