Research Article :
Yokoyama T and Bando H Background:
Transactional Analysis (TA) and egogram have been in focus for medical and
educational fields. There has been a reliable personality battery, Tokyo
University Egogram (TEG). Recent topic includes TEG new version 3 for clinical
introduction. Using TEG ver.3, university students were investigated for their
egogram pattern. Subjects & Methods: Subjects were 99 late teenagers. They
were given lectures of TEG and their data was analyzed three months after the
admission of the university. Results: TEG ver3 presents 33 egogram types which
are related to the personality of Japanese people. Among them, there were four
higher prevalence of egogram types, which were Free Child (FC) dominant,
Adapted Child (AC) dominant, Critical Parent (CP) inferior and Child (C)
Dominant. The percentage datum of current study vs previous standard value in
each type was 10 vs 6.8%, 26 vs 6.1%, 8 vs 2.1% 9 vs 1.1%, respectively.
Discussion & Conclusion: These four types are estimated as free-spirit,
dependent, loose and selfishness. Elevated FC and AC would be probably due to
the influence of educational and social environment in Japan. Among them, high
school students must study hard for entrance exams without meaningful social
experiences. Further investigation will be required for TEG. For
decades, behavioral science, psychology and psychiatry have been more important
in social circumstances [1]. One reason includes increased stress, which may
influence the personality of the people [2]. Consequently, some perspective
would be required in the light of communication, Transactional Analysis (TA),
ego, egogram, and so on. From an ethical and psychological point of view, ego
has meant the consciousness concerning empirical individuality
[3xx](Berne-1957). Furthermore, ego also means a conscious personality which
can keep contact with the reality and mediate super ego psychoanalytically
[3,4]. TA
was originally presented by Berne [5]. Formerly, the behavior or activity of
people was thought to include fie ego conditions such as voice, language,
action, expression, and gesture/posture. After that, Dusay became a disciple of
Berne, who graphed these egos [6]. Everybody can easily understand the status
of egos visually, including Critical Parent (CP), Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult
(A), Free Child (FC) and Adapted Child (AC). By a series of working for
egogram, one can understand and know the presence of our egos. It makes to give
us the power to respond to a variety of stressors in our daily lives and to
control of our minds psychologically [7]. Authors
have continued the study of egograms for various subjects and patients [8,9].
As regards to the egogram, the Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) 2nd edition has
been widely used for long, which was proposed by psychosomatic department of
Tokyo University in Japan [10]. In our previous report, the target subjects
included university students and others. For the analysis of the results, some
reports have been published so far [11]. After
clinical and educational applications of TEG 2nd edition for years,
new edition of TEG has been recently introduced [12]. Our research group always
gives lecture and research on TEG in various opportunities. We have
investigated egogram status for university students, and analyzed. The results
and some discussion will be presented in this article. The
subjects for current research were late teenagers who were first-year
university students (n=99). They entered the Faculty of Science and Technology,
Tokushima University, one of the national universities in Japan. They included
49 students (M/F=45/4) enrolled in 2020 and 50 students (M/F=46/4) in 2021. Regarding
the research method, the authors have given TEG lectures to university students
in every year. Simultaneously, we have analyzed the egogram data from the
students at that time. The lectures related to this research were provided in
July 2020 and July 2021. In Japan, April is the time to enter the university, and
then it is rather stable situation for the students for three months. The
battery used in this research was Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) ver3. TEG has
been a reliable test method for egogram in the clinical research for years.
Authors have conducted TEG ver.2 on many cases and reported the research
results from psychological point of view. TEG Ver.3 is the new version
announced in December 2019 [12]. It includes 53 question items, and takes about
10 minutes for answering and about 5 minutes for scoring [13]. In Japan, it has
been recognized as one of the useful battery in the medical, social and
educational fields. The
results of performing TEG ver3 on 99 university students were shown in Table 1. Among them, some common types
are observed which showed more prevalence in comparison with standard ratio
[10]. They are 1) AC dominant: dependent type (n = 26), 2) FC dominant:
free-spirit type (n = 10), 3) CP inferior: loose type (n = 8) and 4) C
dominant: selfishness type (n = 9). For general tendency of these data, the
characteristic aspect of student ego was closer to C (Child predominance) with
a particularly high AC result [11]. These four types were estimated to be
rather specific personality in Japanese people, which are 1) free-spirit, 2)
dependent, 3) loose and 4) selfishness. Elevated FC and AC would be probably
due to the influence of educational and social environment in Japan. Among
them, high school students must study hard for entrance exams without
meaningful social experiences. Further investigation will be required for TEG. Table1: Classification of egogram types. Egogram has traditionally made
various contributions in the field of psychology [14]. It is involved in
appropriate language strokes in social life for various interactions with
people. This survey was conducted about three months after the admission of the
university. It seemed to be psychologically and socially stable period [15].
Increased prevalence of egogram types were found in current study, which were
FC dominant, AC dominant, CP inferior and C Dominant. They seem to be estimated
as free-spirit, dependent, loose and selfishness. From obtained results, the
characteristics seemed to be generally related to factor C [16]. From this
point of view, some discussion will be described in this article. First, factor C is a child
factor. After graduating from high school, the students are 18-19 years old,
which are equivalent to the latter half of teenagers [17]. They are still
socially immature during this period. If the students become 3rd or 4th grade,
they will have enough experiences to decide various matters. For campus life
for only 3 months, however, they do not have such experiences yet. Therefore,
it is considered that the child factor still has a strong influence to their
personality. Next, the result showed that AC factor is high. In recent years, certain
characteristics have been pointed out when Japanese students have campus lives
from elementary school to senior high school. At school, the students are
required to act in some class or group units, and then selfish acts that
disturb the group behavior are subject to some criticism [18]. Therefore,
average students have been accustomed to adaptation for the atmosphere for
personal communication. Second, factor AC has been
elevated as shown in this result, which is probably due to educational and social
environment in Japan [11]. Another feature would be included that FC was
elevated. After 3 months after the admission of the university, students are excited
about their new university life. Especially in Japan, it would be the period
that they are released from studying hard for entrance exams. For this reason,
they have probably received the advance information that college life is
generally enjoyable without any obligation. However, during 2020-2021, crucial
problem of COVID-19 has been persisting in the world. Due to continuous
self-restraint, they cannot enjoy campus lives as usual. Consequently, some
additional circumstances would be considered. Consequently, the egogram results
of most students appear to be heavily influenced by factor C. From the
viewpoint of education, it is not enough to simply leave it to the independence
of students [8]. Rather, it seems that the instructor needs to instruct
students in a detailed manner. Without it, students may be confused by the new
environment or may not be able to cope well with daily new life. In the light
of university instructors, it seems necessary to firmly support university life
while fostering student independence. The new TEG ver3* revision has
same 29 kinds of conventional type classification [13]. However, some cases
were belonged to borderline of two types. They were four borderline types,
including "N type I / II mixed type", "N type II / III mixed
type", "Inverted N type I / II mixed type", and "Inverted N
type II / III mixed type" [12]. They seemed to be mixed types, then; it is
rather difficult to make decision which to be categorized. Consequently,
additional four types are inserted in the Table 1. As we continue to accumulate
such cases, some perspective will be obtained in the future. In current study, four common
types that were observed in current research would be discussed. The major
different patterns between students and general people were 1) FC dominant
type, 2) AC dominant type, 3) C dominant type, and 4) CP low type. These showed
higher prevalence rate than the general public. From the viewpoints of types
1,2,3), almost half students showed strongly-expressed child ego [17]. In other
words, freshman (1st year) students still have strong child's ego and need for
guidance and support from university instructors. Therefore, it would be
required for the students to be get used to daily life and independence
situation. The highest prevalence was observed in 2) AC dominant type. Since
the pattern that is dependent to others occupies about a quarter, it is
adequate to observe carefully various behaviors of the children, when leaving
their parents. The reason would be that the university environment has a high
degree of freedom, and is therefore likely to be involved in dangerous matters.
Particular attention should be paid to highly dependent items such as alcohol,
smoking, drugs and gambling, and early guidance and education are considered
necessary for them [19]. Furthermore, 4) CP low-level type
was higher than that of the general public. Since the average value of CP is
lower, the loose and sloppy personal character may bring carelessness behavior.
Therefore, there may be risky opportunities of receiving dangerous matter
without refusing. Especially in the case of low CP and high AC, it is easy to
fall into some temptation in the new environment. In addition, with FC-dominant
character, the students will be involved in dangerous matters by themselves due
to their curiosity. Similarly, the egogram type with low CP, high FC, and low A
needs special attention [20]. As described above, it is
considered necessary to intervene by education and guidance on the results of
student egograms. The low CP value is also related to the failure to meet the
deadline for submitting reports. Every year, 10 to 20% of students do not
submit even after the deadline. Unless the instructor does not mention that the
report has not been submitted, the student does not consider. It is a crucial
problem for students to enter usual society associated with such attitudes and
situations [21]. The observance of various rules would be the fundamental. It
is essential to give guidance to such students to recognize the harsh reality,
such as giving a penalty. FC factors are generally found at
high levels in the subject of university students. For this reason, two groups
would be probably present in the students. Group1 includes students who showed
increased FC factor by releasing from the suppressed state in the high school.
Group 2 includes students who showed stable FC factor level as before. This is
difficult to compare because there are no data of egograms a few years ago when
they were high school students [22]. In our study, however, there was a case
who showed rapid increase of FC factor, after several months of entering the
university. From the above, it is suggested
that the value of FC may change significantly in a relatively short period of
time by enrolling in a free student life [23]. The authors speculate that FC
change would be larger when compared to just a few months after entering
university [21]. A comparative study can be possible in two groups, one with FC
changes and one with no change. Several reasons may be involved in the
difference, such as whether the subject can be accustomed to the school life
and friends, whether he lives with his parent or only himself, whether some
differences are present in club activities or curriculum [22,23]. If the situation permits, more
detailed investigations can be possible. Then, interesting results may be
obtained if there is basic research, follow-up research, counseling and so on. This
study has some limits. The number of cases (male/female) is small and
especially the number of female is especially small. Then, it is difficult to
compare the data statistically. Further investigation will be required for
university students to consider relationship with various differences in age
and specialty. A new version of TEG was applied
to university students for study of the detail egogram. Compared with
conventional standard data, four common egogram types were obtained. Future
study will be necessary to accumulate and compare various data of egogram,
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Abstract
Full-Text
Introduction
Subjects
and Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References
Corresponding
author
Hiroshi BANDO, Tokushima University /Medical
Research, Nakashowa 1-61, Tokushima 770-0943 Japan TEL: +81-90-3187-2485, E-mail: pianomed@bronze.ocn.ne.jp Citation
Yokoyama T and
Bando H. Transactional analysis shows child factor would be influential egogram
for late teenager (2021) Edelweiss Psyi OpenAccess 5: 7-9. Keywords
