Repressive coping and self-reports of parenting.
To investigate whether women who possess a repressive coping style (repressors) self-report more positive judgments of their childhood on questionnaire and repertory grid measures compared with non-repressors.



Repressors (low anxiety-high defensiveness) were compared with a composite group of non-repressors, containing some low anxious (low anxiety-low defensiveness), some high anxious (high anxiety-low defensiveness), some defensive high anxious (high anxiety-high defensiveness) and some non-extreme scorers.



Participants completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; Parker, Tupling & Brown, 1979) and a 10 x 10 repertory grid, Self-Identification Form.



On the PBI, repressors scored significantly higher than non-repressors on paternal care and significantly lower on paternal overprotection. There were no group differences for maternal measures. On the repertory grid, repressors compared with non-repressors perceived (a) themselves as significantly closer to their father, a woman they like, and their ideal partner, and significantly further from a woman they dislike, and a man they dislike; and (b) their father as significantly closer to a woman they like, a partner/person they admire, and an ideal partner. In addition, repressors were significantly tighter on construing than non-repressors.



The results supported the hypothesis that repressors would rate their interactions with their fathers more positively than non-repressors when allowed to do so on self-report measures.
Myers
L B
LB
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences, University College London, UK.
Brewin
C R
CR
Winter
D A
DA
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D015588:Observer Variation; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010332:Paternal Behavior; D010551:Personality / Q000145:classification*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D012650:Self Disclosure