The relationship between defense mechanisms and religious coping using a new two-factor solution for the Defense Style Questionnaire-40

2018 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy A. Prout ◽  
William H. Gottdiener ◽  
Alexander Camargo ◽  
Sean Murphy

This study examined the factor structure of the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40) and explored the relationships between defense mechanisms and religious coping in a diverse sample of 380 college students. In contrast with the three-factor model of defenses proposed by the developers of the DSQ-40, principal axis factoring yielded two internally consistent components: adaptive and maladaptive defense styles. Endorsement of adaptive defenses was positively correlated with the use of positive religious coping strategies and negatively correlated with negative religious coping. Maladaptive defenses were associated with the endorsement of negative religious coping strategies. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations are made for future use of the DSQ-40.

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 553
Author(s):  
Iwona Niewiadomska ◽  
Leon Szot

This article is theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part presents issues related to experiencing stress (including ways of coping with experienced problems) and the relationships between preference for various coping strategies and human behavior. The empirical part presents the results of research on the relationship between the frequency of seniors (n = 329) using 13 different ways to deal with experienced difficulties (including the strategy of turning to religion/religious coping) and 11 categories of aggressive behavior (retaliation tendencies, self-destructive tendencies, aggression control disorders, displaced aggression, unconscious aggressive tendencies, indirect aggression, instrumental aggression, self-hostility, physical aggression towards the environment, hostility towards the environment, and reactive aggression). The last part is devoted to a discussion on the obtained research results and the practical implications of using the strategy of turning to religion/religious coping in difficult situations as a factor protecting the elderly from aggressive behavior.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-108
Author(s):  
Lilian Jans-Beken

The aim of this study is to translate and validate the Spiritual Coping Questionnaire in Dutch (SCQ-nl), compare this questionnaire with a religious coping questionnaire, and assess the levels of religious and spiritual coping in association to resilience and perceived stress because these are important determinants in mental health issues. The Dutch-speaking respondents (N = 651, Mage = 45, SDage = 14, range = 18-80) answered the SCQ, Brief RCOPE, Perceived Stress Scale, and Brief Resilience Scale. Validation of the SCQ shows it to be a reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing positive and negative spiritual coping in Dutch-speaking individuals. Although the positive and negative religious coping scales are associated with positive and negative spiritual coping questionnaires, religious coping was not predictive of perceived stress or resilience. Multiple regression analyses demonstrate positive spiritual coping to be associated with lower perceived stress and higher resilience levels and negative spiritual coping to be associated with higher perceived stress and lower resilience levels in Dutch-speaking individuals. The outcome of this study is that the SCQ-nl is a valid and reliable measure for assessing positive and negative spiritual coping in scientific psychological research and descriptively in clinical practice.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Westers ◽  
Mark Rehfuss ◽  
Lynn Olson ◽  
Constance M. Wiemann

Abstract Many adolescents who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) self-identify as religious, but the role of religion in their NSSI is not known. This exploratory study examined the relationship between religious coping and religiousness among adolescents who self-injure and the function of their NSSI. Thirty adolescents aged 12–19 years who had engaged in NSSI participated in an interview and completed questionnaires. Multiple regressions were used to examine the relationship between religious coping and NSSI, and Pearson correlations were used to assess the relationship between religiousness and function of NSSI. Greater use of positive religious coping was associated with lower likelihood of engaging in NSSI to rid oneself of unwanted emotions, whereas greater use of negative religious coping was associated with greater likelihood of engaging in NSSI for this reason as well as to avoid punishment or unwanted responsibility. Higher religiousness was associated with greater use of NSSI to communicate with or gain attention from others, whereas lower religiousness was associated with greater use of NSSI to relieve unwanted emotions. Having a greater understanding of how religious constructs are related to the various functions served by NSSI may inform treatment of this population, particularly among religious youth who self-injure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-282
Author(s):  
Sandra Weber ◽  
William H. Gottdiener ◽  
Cordelia Chou

The authors compared the defense mechanisms used by a community sample of people with and without self-reported psychopathic traits. Defense mechanisms were assessed using the Defense Style Questionnaire-60 and psychopathy was assessed using the Levinson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale in a sample of 225 adults recruited on the Internet. Results found that people with self-reported psychopathy traits used significantly more immature and neurotic defense mechanisms than people without a psychopathic personality profile. All participants reported equal use of mature defenses.


Author(s):  
Michela Bonafede ◽  
Antonella Granieri ◽  
Alessandra Binazzi ◽  
Carolina Mensi ◽  
Federica Grosso ◽  
...  

Background: Patients of malignant mesothelioma (MM) and their caregivers face significant physical and psychological challenges. The purpose of the present study is to examine the emotional impact after the diagnosis of MM in a group of patients and familial caregivers in a National Priority Contaminated Site (NPCS). Methods: A sample of 108 patients and 94 caregivers received a sociodemographic/clinical questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Davidson Trauma Scale, the Coping Orientation to the Problems Experienced—New Italian Version, and the Defense style questionnaire. The risk of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in relation to the strategies of coping and defense mechanisms was estimated in patients and caregivers separately by logistic regression models. Results: For patients, a high risk of depression was associated with high usage of Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) Isolation (OR: 53.33; 95% CI: 3.22–882.30; p = 0.01) and DSQ Somatization (OR: 16.97; 95% CI: 1.04–275.90; p = 0.05). Other significant risks emerged for some coping strategies and some defenses regarding both depression and trauma in patients and caregivers. Conclusions: This research suggests that for both patients and caregivers unconscious adaptive processes have a central role in dealing with overwhelming feelings related to the disease.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Raketic ◽  
M. Kovacevic ◽  
T. Djuric

Very few researches concerning women addictions are done up to day. This paper tries to define basic similarities and differences in defense mechanisms used by women alcohol and opiate addicts.Method:Sample of alcohol and opiate female addicts (30 patients in each group) plus control group (30 women) with no psychiatric diagnosis were questioned with Defense Style Questionnaire - DSQ 40 (Andrews, Singh, Bond, 1993).Results:There were found no statistically relevant differences between two experimental and one control group concerning mature defense mechanism use. Significant differences were found in neurotic and immature defense mechanism use: alcohol addicts use prevalently neurotic mechanisms and immature mechanisms prevail among opiate addicts.Conclusions:In our research mostly used neurotic defense mechanisms by alcohol addicts were: pseudoaltruism, idealization, and undoing. The mostly used immature defense mechanisms among opiate addicts were: phantasy, isolation, devaluation, denial and splitting.


2003 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 842-846
Author(s):  
Daniel Lee Randolph ◽  
Christopher E. Anderson ◽  
Penni L. Smith ◽  
Molly A. Shipley-Clark

This investigation was designed to answer several research questions. First, using each participant's dominant score to place that individual into one of the four Children's Role Inventory categories, what would be the distribution of college students across the categories? Second, is there a relationship between scores on scales of the Children's Role Inventory and (a) on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and (b) on scales of the Defense Style Questionnaire? 236 undergraduate students at a southern university completed the above questionnaires. The distribution of participants over Children's Role Inventory categories was Hero 179, Mascot 41, Scapegoat 1, Lost Child 9, and Not Classified 6. After Bonferroni correction, significant positive but small correlations were reported between the Hero Scale of the Children's Role Inventory and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, as well as between the Hero Scale of the Children's Role Inventory and the Adaptive Scale of the Defense Style Questionnaire.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Narges Zamani ◽  
Mojtaba Habibi ◽  
Nasrin Zamani ◽  
Nina Jamshidnejad ◽  
Mani B. Monajemi

Objective: The current study aims to compare the defense mechanisms and personality traits among teenagers with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and normal individuals. Materials and Methods: Incurrent casual-comparative study, 220 teenagers with an average age of 16.74±6.08 and age range of 13-17 were randomly selected from among high school students, who were diagnosed with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder in fall 2014 and 220 other peers with matching demographic characteristics were selected as the control group. Both groups were asked to fill Eysenckpersonality questionnaire and Andrews’ Defense Style Questionnaire. Data was analyzed via multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The average scores of teenagers with ARFID was higher than the control group regarding immature and neurotic defense style, neuroticism and extraversion; with respect to mature defense style variable average scores of teenagers with ARFID was lower comparing to control group. Thus, it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between personality traits and defence styles of teenagers with ARFID and normal teenagers.


Author(s):  
Αντώνιος Καλαματιανός ◽  
Λίσσυ Κανελλοπούλου

The interest with regard to the Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has increased in the past few years, because the number of people with the aforementioned diagnosis who use mental health services has risen. The study aimed at examining the defense mechanisms in people with BPD diagnosis in relation to the attachment type they adopt. Thesample consisted of 36 adult subjects diagnosed with BPD who attended psychiatric outpatient departments and 36 people who attended the ophthalmologic outpatient care at a general hospital. The adult attachment questionnaire CA-MIR and the Defense Style Questionnaire-40 were administered to the participants. In general, results are in accordance with the theoretical background, because it was demonstrated that diagnosed subjects scored higher in the insecure attachment types, that is, the ambivalent, the detached and the non-resolved, whereas the non-diagnosed scored higher in the autonomous attachment. Moreover, diagnosed subjects used more than the non-diagnosed participants the neurotic and the immature defenses,but they did not differ with respect to mature defenses. Finally, correlations between attachment and defenses were found with the exception of the mature that correlated with no attachment model. These findings may contribute to the identification of factors that participate in BPD and in the configuration of more efficient therapeutic interventions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Fahime Nedaie Haddad ◽  
Asghar Jafari ◽  
Neda Nouhi

The present study was aimed to determine the relationship between parents' defense mechanisms and personal supportive factors with coming-to-terms in students. The study used a correlational method; and the statistical population consisted of all students of BA and upper levels, who referred to Tehran's national library during the first half of 2013, from whom 90 individuals were selected as the sample   of the study, using random sampling method. They completed Andrews' et al (1993) defense styles questionnaire, Zimet's et al Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and Britani Hermandz's Coming-to-Terms behaviors (2008). Frequency, mean, deviation, standard, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multivariate regression analysis were used in order to analyze data. Results showed that there is a relationship between parents' developed defense mechanisms, underdeveloped defense mechanisms, and neurotic defense mechanisms, and personal supportive factors with students' coming-to-terms behaviors. From predictor variables, personal supportive play a have a greater share in the expression of students' coming-to-terms behaviors. Finally, it can be concluded that considering the role of defense mechanisms in mental health, and considering the fact that different defense mechanisms affect individuals' stressful emotions in various ways, clinical experts and consultants can help patients to develop defense mechanisms and review personal and social supportive factors, following which we can expect them to better face this negative emotion and come to terms with it. 


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