Impact of Ego Virtues in Middle and Old Ages: A Comparative Study

Abstract

According to Erikson, development process of an individual passes through eight distinct stages. Each stage is marked by a psychological conflict, the successful resolution of which, results in the development of ego virtue/ strength. Each stage is associated with the development of a specific ego virtue depending upon the conflict marking the developmental stage. The conflicts marking the stages of middle and old ages are generativity vs stagnation and integrity vs despair respectively. The resulting virtue for middle age is care, while that for old age is wisdom. Purpose of the present study is to find out the impact of ego virtues in middle and old age people. An attempt has been made to find the ego virtues by Ego Virtues Inventory developed by Dr. R.D. Helode (2018). Here, 60 samples are taken in four different groups. In every group, 15 samples are taken. The groups are as follows- Middle age (male), Middle age (female), Old age (male) and old age (female). Results indicate that the mean value (Old age male = 7.03 and old age female = 7.35, overall mean of old age = 7.19) are above average and also, it is more than the scores of middle age persons (Middle age male mean value = 6.90, Middle age female mean value = 6.82, overall mean value of middle age = 6.86). In comparison between males of old and Middle Ages, the mean value is higher among the old age males. Old age female scores of mean values are higher than the mean value scores of middle age females. The mean values of old age females are more in comparison to middle age females, which has been statistically significant at 0.05 level. Other t-tests were not significant. So, it may be concluded that old age males and females have shown more strength in ego virtues in comparison to middle aged people, which has also been found among the variation of scores between males and females. Old age females have shown more stable differences in comparison with middle aged females. So, in the present study, it has been found that there is an impact of ego virtues in middle and old aged people and the latter group has shown more strength in ego virtues than the other.