This study examined the relationship between level of ego development and parents' self reports of the subjective experience of parenthood. Subjects were 30 mother/father pairs of middle class parents, 10 from each of three phases of the family: families whose oldest children were attending preschool or middle school, or had graduated from high school. Two assessment procedures were used: (1) an individual interview assessed parents' perceptions of the experience of parenthood, and (2) Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test Form 11-68 for men and women assessed level of ego development. Specifically investigated was the relationship of ego devlopment to response categories of self awareness, valuing interpersonal relationships, individuality, affect, empathy, and insight. With the exception of themes of individuality and empathy, the above categories of response were significantly related to parents' ego development. Other response themes also were identified. Ego level did not appear to increase with family phase. Results demonstrated that mothers and fathers varying in ego development describe the subjective experience of parenthood in qualitatively different ways. It is tentatively concluded, along the lines of Loevinger's model of ego development, that parents' responses to childrearing contain many elements that are a touchstone of ego development. (RH)