Utility of the repressive defensive style construct in childhood

Abstract

Defined and tested repressive defense style to determine if this construct was applicable to children. Eighty-three 10- to 15-year-old children with asthma were categorized as repressors or nonrepressors using the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and the Anger Expression Scale. About one third of the children were classified as repressors. There was high concordance (74% to 85%) between methods of classifying repressors using anger or anxiety as the negative affect presumed to be repressed. In addition, a high concordance rate across time was found in a subsample. Sex differences on the Child Behavior Checklist-Parent Form were also found to relate to repressor or non- repressor classification. These data suggest that the effects of repression on self-report data should be considered in clinical research.