ESQ
Ego State Questionnaire (ESQ)
The ESQ is a self-report questionnaire rooted in the framework of transactional analysis, designed to explore how a person draws on their main ego states in everyday functioning. The tool generally aims to estimate the relative weight of five functional dimensions frequently described in TA: Critical Parent, Nurturing Parent, Adult, Free Child, and Adapted Child. In clinical practice, it can help the psychologist structure the exploration of relational styles, emotion regulation patterns, habitual responses to stress, and interpersonal scripts. The ESQ is mainly used as a screening and clinical reflection instrument, alongside the interview, and not as a stand-alone diagnostic tool.
- Number of questions
- 40 questions
- Estimated duration
- 10 minutes
- Language
- English
- Original name
- Ego State Questionnaire
- Target audience
- Adolescents and adults
- Authors
- Cliff A. Loffredo, Michael M. Omizo (1997)
- Category
- Emotion regulation, Interpersonal issues
Scoring & interpretation
Items are rated on a Likert-type scale according to the degree of agreement with, or correspondence to, the statement. Scores are summed or averaged by subscale to obtain a profile of the five ego states: Critical Parent, Nurturing Parent, Adult, Free Child, and Adapted Child. Higher scores indicate a stronger presence of the corresponding mode. Interpretation relies mainly on the relative profile across subscores, clinical consistency with the interview, and the observation of any imbalances; in common use, there is no universally accepted diagnostic cutoff.
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