The Ego State Questionnaire-Revised

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the Ego State Questionnaire-Revised (ESQ-R) had acceptable construct validity (actually measured the five functional ego states) and acceptable reliability (consistently and dependably measured the five functional ego states) using factor analysis (a statistical method that identifies test items that measure the same thing) and split-half reliability (a correlation between participants' scores on two halves of a single test instrument). The ESQ-R is a 40-item experimenter-constructed instrument that measures the strength of the five functional ego states and consists of the 40 items retained from a factor analysis of 60 items described in this study. Split-half reliability coefficients utilizing Cronbach's alpha for each of the five scales (functional ego states) of the 40-items retained on the ESQ-R ranged from .69 to .83. Split-half reliability for the entire ESQ-R was .80. A second factor analysis on the 40 items retained on the ESQ-R accounted for 43.66% of the item variance. Another confirming factor analysis on the 40-item ESQ-R using a new sample is recommended. The ESQ-R can be used to measure ego states or changes in ego states during therapy, training, or education.