Object relations and ego development: comparison and correlates in middle childhood.

The significance of ego development and object relations for adaptation and adjustment in middle childhood was examined in a study of 92 nine- to twelve-year-old children. Subjects completed the Sentence Completion Test (SCT) and the Blatt Object Relations Scale (BORS) in individual sessions. BORS ratings were factor analyzed and a predominant factor of parental nurturance emerged. This factor was positively related to children's self-reported perceptions of parental involvement and autonomy support but was unrelated to the SCT. SCT findings revealed an expected pattern for middle childhood with the preponderance of children falling into impulsive, self-protective, and conformist stages of ego development. Both the SCT and BORS were examined in relation to aspects of children's cognitive and social functioning, assessed via teacher ratings, peer sociometrics, self-evaluations, and academic achievement records. Results showed that the SCT was primarily related to cognitive complexity variables, while the object relations measure was associated with both peer and self-evaluations. These nonoverlapping relations with varied child outcomes are discussed both in terms of methodological limitations and theoretical significance.

A Rorschach assessment of children's mutuality of autonomy.

Explored the construct validity of the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (Urist, 1977), which assesses the developmental level of object relations based upon Rorschach percepts, within a nonclinical child population. Mutuality of Autonomy was found to be related to teacher ratings of interpersonal functioning in the classroom, and to academic grades but not to either standardized achievement or intelligence. In addition, the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale demonstrated predicted correlations with children's perceived control. Children with developmentally lower object relations scores were more likely to perceive "powerful others" or "unknown" sources as controlling outcomes, particularly within the social domain. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale, and the significance of object relations for personality functioning.