title: Defense mechanisms, behavior, and affect in young adulthood.
abstract: The relationship between defense mechanism use, observed behavior, and affect was investigated in a sample of 91 young adults. Defense mechanisms were assessed using Cramer's (1991a) Defense Mechanism Manual for TAT stories; behavior was based on observer Q-sort ratings (Block, 1978). The findings show that men and women who rely on the immature defense of denial at age 23 show multiple signs of behavioral immaturity, as well as anxiety. In contrast, extensive use of projection was related to a suspicious, hyperalert personality style, including anxiety and depression, in men, but to a sociable, nonwary, nondepressed style in women. The use of the mature defense of identification, by women, was related to behavior characterized by maturity, social competence, and the absence of depressive symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA. phebe.cramer@williams.edu
authors.forename: Phebe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cramer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010551:Personality; D011385:Projection; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012737:Sex Factors; D012917:Social Adjustment; D014481:United States