Separation-Individuation and the "New Look" at the Imaginary Audience and Personal Fable

Abstract

The relationship between the imaginary audience (IA) and the personalfable (PF), narcissism, and various dimensions of separation-individuation was examined. The subjects were 45 sixth-graders, 54 eighth-graders, 40 tenth-graders, and 30 twelfth-graders, drawn from one school district in a predominantly middle-class community. Newly developed measures of imaginary audience and the personal fable were used, as were the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Separation-Individuation Test of Adolescence. The results were: (a) the IA and the PF were positively correlated with narcissism: (b) the [A was positively related to object relational concerns such as engulfment, symbiosis, succorance, enmeshment, and separation anxiety; (c) the PF was positively related to dependency denial and to self-centeredness, and was negatively related to separation anxiety and engulfment; (d) males reported higher scores on measures that reflect agentic concerns, such as narcissism, personal fable, omnipotence, invulnerability, and selfcenteredness, females reported higher scores on interpersonal dimensions, such as enmeshment, symbiosis, and separation anxiety. Cross-sectional findings and sex differences are reported. The results are seen to support an integrative model of adolescent ego development.

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