Ambivalence and defense: effects of a repressive style on normal adolescents' and young adults' mixed feelings.
Ambivalence has been associated in theoretical works with psychopathology and with defenses against conflict. Ambivalence was operationalized as mixed feelings. Seventy-five 9th graders (27 boys and 48 girls), 50 12th graders (19 men and 31 women), and 80 Yale University undergraduates (38 men and 42 women) completed questionnaires assessing ambivalence, psychopathological symptoms, and repressive and nonrepressive styles. Compared with nonrepressive subjects, repressive subjects at all grade levels reported lower levels of mixed feelings and relatively less uncertainty about their feelings. Whereas the absence of felt anxiety was sufficient for lower self-reported psychopathological symptoms, a repressive style was necessary for lower self-reported ambivalence.
Sincoff
J B
JB
Yale University.
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D012307:Risk Factors