Manua

for
Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS)

Dr. Yashvir Singh

Head, Department of Psychology
St. Joha's College, AGRA
and
Dr. Mahesh Bhargava
Director
N. P. C., AGRA

1990

Phone: 63551
NATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CORPORATION

4/230, Kacheri Ghat,

AGRA-282004 (U. P.) India

1984 1990. Al! rights reserved.

 MANUAAL
For
EMOTIONAL MATURITY SCALE
(EMS)
Maturity
The concept of
cit attention in the maturity has not reeeived a
great deal of expli-
has been yielded theliterature. Delineation of
of libidinal
and development
important formulation of the "Genital
"object-interest
between the (Freud, 1924)". Recent emphasis on the level'"
forces in
regressive, dependents, versus tha
conflict
the progressive, productive
personality has directed interest
detailed nature of toward the more
maturity.
Nature of Maturity
1.
One of the most
obvious pathways of
emphasized by Sigmund Freud and Franz development, long
Alexander,
parasitic dep:ndence of the foetus to the relative is from the
parent, with parental capacity for independence of
child. responsibility for spouse and

22. Intimately bound-up with the organism's development

from parasitism on the mother to relative
independence from the
parents is its increased capacity for responsibility and
and its decreased receptive needs. Ch:ldren learn productivity
to control their
hostalities, their sexuality and other inpulses, and to develop the
orientations of maturity largely th:rough th2 incentive of
leved.
being
3.
Third characteristic of maturity is relative freedom from
the well-known constellation of interiority, egotisn and
comp:titive
ness.

4. Another aspect of maturity consists in th: conditioning

and the training necessary for socialization and domestication.
5. Hostile aggressiveness, using the term to include all sorts
of anger. hate. cruelty and belligerency, is always a sign of emotional
irritation or threat.
 4
6. Another important attribute of maturity is a Sirm
firm sense.
sense of
reality.
7. Another chatacteristic of maturity is flexibility and adapta
ta-
bility
Genesis of Emotional Disturbances
Dependence on his mother, the ambitions for prestige and
success which imbibed the
rivalry with his father and the depreciatory
attitude toward him, the failure to identify with other men,
the
Whole constellation continued on, still
potent, although, for the most
part, uuconscious, automatic and resistant to conscious eftorts to
change. The rest of his
personality developed adequately in the
direction of those attitudes, feelings and
ways of functioning which
we are
beginning recognize as mature.
to

The genesis of emotional disturbances be reduced with

can
some over
simplification to the following steps
1. Childhood emotional
induences interact with the iniant's
cogenital endowment and developmental forces, the child being most
formative up to the age about six.
2. These iniuences facilitate, retard or warp the development
and cause emotional patterns which persist,
mostly unconsciously, in
later life.

Thesenuclear patterns" contain certain vulnerable

3.
emo-
tional points ; everyone has speciic emotional
vulnerabilities.
4. The environment exerts certain
demands, pressure and
frustrations.
5. The individual endeavours
to harmonize the
confiicting im-
pulses within hiniself and to adjust himself to his environment.
6. In
general, the more mature the individual is, the more
stably and flexibly he adjusts, but when the pressures impinge pon
his emotional vulnerabilities, he reacts with
mobilization for fight or
flight.
7. The fear and the îlight and the
tend to be handled as they were in
danger and hostile aggression
childhood, with partial return to
childhood fornis of satisfaction, thiuking
and behaviour.
 5
8. These
regressive reactions constitute and produce
which can be grouped as about: symptoms
i) Inner (a) Psychosomatic, (b) neurotic,
(i)
(c) psychotic, and
(ii) Acting (a) masochistic, (b) destructive social
out
(c) Criminal. behaviour,
9. The ego reacts
secondarily to the tensions and the symp-
toms over a
range, from denying to exploiting them.
Emotional Maturity
In ihe present circumstances, youth as well as children are
facing difficulties in life. These difficullies are giving rise t0 mady
psycho-somatic problems such as anxiety, tensions, frustrations and
emotional upsets in day to day life. So, the
now emerging as a
study of emotional lifeis
descriptive science, comparable with anatomy. It
deals withan interplay of forces with intensities and
quantities. Avail-
able tests are crude and measure
chiefly the degree of dependence.
But this test the diferent aspects of emotional
measures
As self acceptance is an important
maturity.
aspect of maturiiy says Wenkart,
and it must be preceded by acceptance from otheis.

Actually, emotional maturity is not on'y the cifective determine

ofpersonality pattern but it also helps to control the growth of
adolescent's development. The concept "Mature" emotional beha-
viour of any level is that which reflects the fruits of normal emotional
development. A person who is able to keep his emotions under
control, who is able to broke delay and to suffer without self-pity,
might still be emotionally stunned and childish. Morgan (1934) stated
the view that an adequate theory of emotional maturity must take
account of the full seope of the individuality, powers and his ability
to enjoy the use of his powers.

According to Waiter D. Smitson (1974) emotional maturity is

a process in which the personality is con!inuously striving for greater
Sense of emotional health, both inira-psychically and intra-personally.

Kaplan and BrOi eloborate the characteristics of an edo-

onally mature person. say thai he has the capacity to withstand
delay in satisfaction of necds. He has the ability to tolerate a reas1 -
able amount of frustration. He has belief in long-term planning and
1S capable of delaying or revising his cxpectations in tens of demands
Of situations, An emotionally mat:ure childl has the capacity to inake
 (6)
of his famiiy, his
is peers
peer in
effective adjustment
wi.h himself, members
But maturity mcans not merely the
and' culture.
the school, society
and functioning but also the ability t
capacity for attitud
such
enjoy them fully.
mentions some characteristics of
L. S. Hollingworth (1928)
in the following points-
emotionally mature person
in gradation or degree of
1. He is capable of responding none fashion,
He does not respond in all
or
emotional responses.
he does not below up.
but keeps within bounds. If his hat blow of,
responses as
controlled with the
2. He is also able to delay his
impulsiveness of young child.
unrestained self
instead of showing
3. Handling of self pity,
pity, he tries to feel for him.
influence the infant's congenital
Childhood emotional stresses
and emotional forces acting upon sperm and
heredity plus physical and develop-
to conception and until birth) endowment
egg. (prior
formative upto the age of about
mental forces, the child being most
Six.
the concept ot
suggested to evaluate
Many criteria have been
are being inentioned below:
maturity. A few of them
to Bernard (1954) following are the criteria of mature
According
emotional behaviour:

of negative emotions.
Inhibition of direct expression
(i) emotions.
Cultivation of positive, up building
(ii)
tolerance for disagreeable
Development of higher
(ii)
circumstances.
responses.
satisíaction from socially approved
(iv) Increasing
dependence of actions.
(V) Increasing broad about other
and not
make a choice
(vi) Ability to
choices.
Freedom from
unreasonable fear
(vii)
with limitations.
and action in accordance
(Vii) Understanding others.
and achievement of
Awareness of the ability
(ix)
Abiliiy to err wiihout feeling disgraced.
(x)
 7
(xi) Ability to carry victory and
prestige with grace.
(xii) Ability delay the gratification of
to
impulses.
(xii) The enjoyment of daily living.
The most outstanding mark of emotional
maturity, according
Cole (1944) Is ability to bear tension. Other mark are an indifference
to

toward certain kinds of stimuli that affect the child or adolescent and
he develops moodiness and sentimentality. Besides, emotionally
mature person persists the capacity for fun and recreation. He enjoys
both play and responsibility activities and keeps them in proper
balance.

According to Fred McKinney, The characteristics of an emo-

tionally mature are hetro-sexuality, appreciation of attitude and
behaviour of others, tendency to adopt the attitudes and habits
others and capacity to delay his own responses."

According to anothor author Seoul, if the emotional develop-

is high.
ment of the individual is relatively complete, his adaptability
is minimal.
his regressive tendencies are low, and his vulnerability

mature is not one who necessarily

Therefore, the emotionally
aroused anxiety and hositility but it
has resolved all conditions that
himself in clearer perspective,
IS Continuously in process of seeing
of feel-
involved in a struggle to gain healthy integration
continually
ing, thinking action.
factors
a matrix of temperamental
Guilford, J. P. has prepared
which is reproduced below
being
involved
Areas of behaviour
Kinds of
Social
Emotionul
dimension General
Ascendence
Cheerful
Confidence
Positive Vs
Vs
Vs Vs Timidity
Depression
Inferiority
Negative Socialization
Immaturity
Alert Vs
Responsive Vs
Vs
Vs Self-sufficiency
Inattentiveness
Maturity
Uaresponsive
 8)

Controlled Impulsive ervousness Social Intitative

Vs Vs Vs Vs
Unresponsive Deliberatedness Composure Passivity
Objective Objective Poise Tolerance
Vs V's Vs Vs
Ego-centric
Hypersensitive Self-consciousness
Criticalness
Emotionally disturbed behaviour can be described in the
following way.
He reacts like a child, he looks for sympathy, conceited, quarrel
some, infantile, self-centered and demanding person, has preservatve
emotions, is emotionally excitable and feels very much upset to loose
a game. (Gibb, 1942, Brogden, 1944, and Cattell, 1945).
Although Mohsin (1960) has developed a Emotional Maturit
Scale whereas Rao and Stewart (1976) has adopted Stewart Maturity
Scale in Indian Conditions and Srivastava (1983) has developed a
Social Maturity Scale.

Taking these factors into consideration, authors of the presen

scale. prepared a list of Five broad Factors of emotional immaturity

(F)(a) Emotional unstability (. .)

F(b Emotional regresssion (. 7.)
(T)(c) Social maladjustment (TT. F.)
( d) Personality disintegration (zy. fa.)
((e) Lack of indeper dence (. . )
(F) (a) Emotional Unstability
This is a broad factor
representing syndrome of lack ot caae
to dispose off problems, irritability, needs, constant help for one
day to day
work, vunerability, stubborness and temper tantra
This group factors has a
high correlation ( 75) with the tota S
obtained on the scale.
On the inter-correlational matrix, Syndro1e
synu
of emotional
unstabiity has high intercorrelation with social a lad-
Justment but low correlations with emotional regresston,
p*iS
disintegralions, and lack of independence. This factor has low corr
lations with the two factors
analysed in factor analysis (Tabie
and seems to be an
independent factor of emotional immatity
 9)
() (bEmotional Regression
Emotional regression is also a broad
ing such syndromes as group of factors represent-
feeling of
aggressiveness and self-centredness.inferiority, restlessness, hostability,
This factor has correlation with
total score on the scale. On
inter-correlational matrix, it is highly
intercorrelated withother two factors, that of
tion and lack of
independence, personality disintegra-
but has low intercorrelations with
those of emotional
unstability and social maladjustment factors. This
has emerged as the most broad
factor in the scale as revealed by the
factorial analysis (Table 7). It has high intercorrelations with
. fa. (47) . (45) and low intercorrelation with T. . (27)
and T. 37. (18). It also has a high correlation (63) with the
total score on all the five factors of the scale.
T)(c) Social Maladjustment
Such a person shows lack of social
seclusive but boasting, lier and shirker.
adaptability should hatred,

d ) Personality Disintegration
It include all those symptoms, which represent disintegration of
personality, like reaction, phobias formation, rationalization, passi
mism, inmmorality etc. Such a person suffers from inferiorities and
hence reacts to environment through aggressiveness, destruction and
has distorted sense of reality. In brief such a person shows varied
degrees of neuroticism which could be put as below:

N
VsxSs X a
«
where
VS=Specific emotional vulnerability.
Ss=External stresses specially in relation to emotional vulner-

ability.
external.
AdDifficulty of adjustment-internal and
F-Flexibility.
R=Regressive Forces.
P-Progressive Forces.
TEmotional tensions.

E-Ego strength.
NDegrec of Neuroticism.
 10

) (e) Lack of Independence

Such a person shows parasitic dependence on others.
others. is egoti
and lacks 'objective interests'. People think of him an
person.
unreliable
Description and Scoring
Emotional Maturity scale has a total of 43 items under the e
categories given below:

Areas Total No. of Items

( Emotional Unstability (. 3.) 10
(F)Emotional Regression (7.) 10
)Social Maladjustment (AT. 10
( Personality Disintegration (7. .) 10
(Lack of Independence . t.) 8

Total 48

EMS is a self-reporting Five Point scale. Items of

the scale are
in question form demanding information for each in either of the
five options mentioned below:
V. Much, Much, Undecided, Probably, Never,
3rafe agT, afafr, TTT
The items are so stated that if the is in
37 afer, a score of 5 is given; for azaT, 4; for 3aAT7 positive
answer say
3; and 1or
T , 2: and for negative answer of T a a score of l is to
awarded. Therefore, the higher the score on the scale, greater tn
degree of the emotional immaturity and vice-versa.
Reliability
The reliability of the scale was determined by : () Teste-retest
Method and (ii) Internal
consistency.
(i) Test-retest reliabiliry
The scale was measured for its test-retest
eTing upon a
reliability by au
group of collegiate students (N
150) including
and female students
the two age 20-24
tesiings that of six ycars. The time interval
was
between between
testing was 75. months. The product nioment
the two
niomentrr
(ii) Internal Consistency
The internal
the coeficient of
consistency of the scale
was checked by
cach of the
correlations between total scores and calculating
five areas.
internal consistency. Table I given below, shows scores on
the values of

TABLE 1
Table Showing Internal Consistency of EMS
(=98)
S. No.
Areas r Value

a. Emoticnal unstability
(Tara 7fezar) 75
b. Emotional regres:ion
63
C. Emotiona! maladjustment
TTTHTfTT TT 58
d. Personality disintegration (7 ezfEa farem) 86
e. Lack of independence 42

Validity
The scale was validated against external criteria i.e. the Gha
a r e a of the adjustment inventory for college students by Sinha
and Singh. The inventory has "Gha' area measuring emotional
adjustment of college students. The number of items of this area is

twenty-one.
tWenty-one. Product monent correlation obtained between total
SCOres on all twenty-one Gha' items and total scores on EMS was
64 (N 46).

Interpretation
students be-
The scale was ad ministered upon 193 collegiate
three quartiles
0ging to urban as well as rural background. The
were calculated for tha scores of all th: 198 respondents.
 12

TABLE2
Deviations of Scores for N-188
Quartile
Table Showing
(M 100, F-98)

Quartile deviations

Q80
2885
Q=10657

TABLE 3
Interpretation of Seores

Interpre1ation
Scores
Extremely stable
50-80
Moderately stable
81-88
Unstable
89-106
Extremely unstable
107-240

TABLE4
Table showing factor analysis (Centeroid Method) of the
five factor of EMS

FTT.. T.. T. q.f. . Check Sum

Sub-test
(T) () T)
18 56 12 12 98
18 27 47 45 T37

(T56 27 23 23 129
aTRR fara () 12 47 23 28 110
(T12 45 23 28 1 0S
S, 98 1:37 129 10 108 5 82
D,56 47 56 47 45 25
Sy +D=E, 1-54 184 185 57 1'53 8 33T
E/VT=a; 53 64 64 S5 53 289=T
/ T -M
a 28 41 30 28 68
I 68
Percentage variance x
10033-60 = 34
 13

TABLE 5
Heirarchical order of intercorrelations matrix

Factors T. HT. .fa. Er.

56 23 23 23
HT. 56 18 12 12
HT.. 23 18 47 45
23 12 47 28
. 23 12 45 28

TABLE6
r-Transformed into Z standard score (Fisher's Z Scores)

r=Z

FT.. HT. .f.

63 23 23 23
63 18 12 12
18 57 48
23
12 51 29
23
12 48 29
23
105 1-45 1'15 12
1:37
TABLE 7

having high correlations

Table showing two broad fac:ors

(N=198)

B
A

23
. fa. 47
a. . 23
45
.E T. . 23
T. 23
T. 37. 56
T. 3. 18
 14)

REFERENCES

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Learning and Teachino Teaching. New
Book Co.,.
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and Meaura.
Bhargava. M. (1989) Modern Psychological Testing Measurement
(Hindi) 8th Ed. Agra, Har Prasad Bhargava.
Bhargava. M. ( 198?) Exceptional Children (Hindi) Agra, Har Praso
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Bhargava, M and Agarwal, Aruna (1990). The Psychology of Hunan
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Guilford. J. P. (1956) Personality New York, McGraw Hill Book Co..

.
Guilford. J. P. (1954) Psychometric Methods, New York. McGraw
Hill Book Co.,

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Studies 5(2) 78-83.

Rao, T.V. and Stewart, A. J. (1976) Stewart Maturity Scale (Indian

Adaptation), New Delhi, Manasayan.

Seoul. L. J. (195) Emotional

maturity, the development and dynamics
of personality, London : J. B. Lippincott.
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comparative study of emotional stability o
mentally superior and
erage children.
av
Unpublished Master's
dissertation. Agra University.
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Singh. R. P. (198)) Adjustment Inventor
for college students
(AICS), Agra, National Psychologial
Corporation.
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(1983) Social Maturity Seale (SMS) in Hindi,
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Walter,
Katkovasky & Leon Gorlow, (Editors)
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