Defense Mechanisms, Psychopathology, and Life Stress

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between the maturity of defense mechanisms, psychopathology, and life stress in a community sample of adult African American females (N=51). It was hypothesized that less mature defenses, as measured by the Defense Mechanism Rating Scales (DMRS), would be correlated with higher levels of several types of psychopathology including depression, anxiety, drinking problems, and personality disorders as measured by the BDI, the STAI, the MAST, and the PDQ-4+. The results of this study did not support a relationship between maturity of defense and psychopathology. It was also hypothesized that higher levels of life stress as measured by the Life Events Scale (LES) would be correlated with psychopathology (depression, anxiety, drinking problems, and personality disorders). As hypothesized, higher levels of life stress were related to higher levels of psychopathology on all measures. Additionally, defensive maturity was expected to play a mediating role between life stress and psychopathology in that more mature defenses as measured by the DMRS would be predictive of lower levels of psychopathology. However, this hypothesis was not tested because defensive maturity was not found to be correlated with psychopathology as had been expected.