Expressive style as a developmental index in late Adolescence

Abstract

The purpose of this study was an investigation of normal late adolescent expressive style and adaptive modes. The method was a comparison of writing styles across three age groups (adolescent, late adolescent, and adult) and two academic groups (college and noncollege). A small sample pretest yielded descriptive statements which are summarized into three criteria: “flamboyant” “impersonal” and “constricted.” The test proper required judges to apply the criteria to 59 story pairs written to cards 2 and 18GF of the TAT. Reliability was assessed separately for each criteria: R = .94 for “flamboyant,” .83 for “impersonal” and .78 for “constricted.” Late adolescents were judged to be “flamboyant” in writing style significantly less often than the other two age groups: (X² = 12.24, p. = .01) and “impersonal” significantly more often (X² =12.8, p = .01). The expressive style of late adolescents is moderate in emotional tone and heavily reliant on intellectualizing defenses, a style which facilitates the meeting of developmental tasks of late adolescence.