Repressive Coping Style Research Articles

Do childhood memories colour social judgements of today? The case of repressors

Previous research has shown that individuals who possess a repressive coping style have significantly poorer recall of negative childhood memories and also exhibit more comparative optimism for negative events than nonrepressors. The current study investigated whether there is a relationship between recall of childhood memories and comparative optimism. Repressors (REP, low trait anxiety–high defensiveness, N = 20) were compared with specific nonrepressor groups on trait anxiety and defensiveness: low anxious (LA, N = 16), high anxious (HA, N = 16) defensive high anxious (DHA, N = 13), and a non‐extreme group (NE, N = 15) chosen from an initial pool of 163 female participants. For REP compared with all non‐REP, age of earliest negative memory recalled was significantly older and REP recalled significantly fewer negative childhood memories. For REP only there was a significant correlation between number of negative memories recalled and comparative optimism, with high comparative optimism correlated with a low number of negative childhood memories recalled. There were no other significant correlations with comparative optimism, overall, or for any of the sub‐groups. These results indicate a link between childhood and adult measures of social judgements for REP only. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Defensiveness is related to increased startle magnitude

Previous work has demonstrated that individuals with a repressive coping style (i.e. those high in defensiveness and low in trait anxiety) tend to show higher levels of physiological reactivity than non-repressors. The present study examined archival data from a two-session experiment to assess whether repressors would show greater reactivity as measured by the eye blink component of the acoustic startle response. Following Weinberger et al.’s (1979) fourfold repression taxonomy, and using the EPQ-L and EPQ-N scales as measures of defensiveness and anxiety, participants were identified as repressors, true low anxious, true high anxious, and defensive high anxious. Results revealed that defensiveness, but not repression per se, was associated with greater startle magnitude. The effect was observed in the first session, but not in the second. Implications for these findings are discussed.

Repressive coping style and positive self-presentation.

This paper reviews 59 studies looking at cognitive, individual differences and physiological correlates of the repressive coping style, as defined by Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson (1979). A central aim is to evaluate the relative importance of the anxiety and social desirability components of repression. Thus, the empirical study investigates the relationships between repression and a number of relevant, but hitherto unexamined, constructs, including trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), self-estimated intelligence, functional and dysfunctional impulsivity, and stoicism. It was hypothesized that repressors would score higher than the other three groups on trait EI, self-estimated IQ and functional impulsivity, but lower on dysfunctional impulsivity. In total, 259 (174 females) participants from three British universities completed questionnaires measuring the dependent and independent variables. Participants were divided into four groups (truly low anxious, non-defensive/high anxious, defensive/high anxious and repressors) based on their scores on anxiety and social desirability. Analyses (moderated multiple regressions and ANOVAs) were conducted both on the total sample as well as on 'extreme-scoring' individuals. Where there were significant differences, the hypotheses were supported, particularly with respect to trait EI, self-estimated IQ and impulsivity. Using 'extreme-scoring' groups did not effectively change the results. The regressions revealed an absence of significant interactions between anxiety and social desirability. Results are discussed in terms of the now replicated effect that repressors present a highly positive and optimistic self-image, despite cognitive and behavioural data suggesting that their coping style is psychologically unhealthy. In addition, it is argued that many findings in the repressive coping style literature can be parsimoniously explained through main effects of anxiety or social desirability alone (i.e., without invoking a construct that combines the two).

Lung function, adherence and denial in asthma patients who exhibit a repressive coping style

Lung function, adherence and denial were explored in asthma patients who possess a repressive coping style (repressors). Repressors (low trait anxiety, high defensiveness) and non-repressors were identified by their trait anxiety and defensiveness scores. Participants completed measures of self-reported adherence, denial, morbidity and demographic data. A lung function measure (FEV1) was obtained for a subset of patients. Repressors, who comprised 33% of the sample, had significantly worse lung function but scored significantly higher on self-reported adherence, compared to non-repressors. Age was positively correlated with adherence. Although repressive coping was positively correlated with denial, denial was significantly correlated with defensiveness but not trait anxiety. The study provides evidence that repressors are an important group to identify in future studies of asthma.

Quantifying Idiodynamics: A Process Approach to Personality Psychology

Rosenzweig's (1950) concept of idiodynamics is presented, and the importance of time in applied idiodynamics is stressed. Time-series analyses are proposed as one method for realizing the potential of idiodynamics for understanding and modeling individual lives. Building on this, and incorporating Cattell's (1966) notion of the data box, a process approach to personality research is proposed. This approach begins with idiodynamic analyses at the level of individual lives in an effort to identify patterns or themes, then proceeds to examine individual differences in the patterns or themes so identified. Examples of applying this process approach to personality questions are provided. These include identification of cycles in daily moods, assessing the link between each individual's moods and the events in his/her daily life, and the relation between repressive coping style and the experience of and memory for affect-charged life events. Conclusions emphasize how this approach can retain the appeal of the “dynamic” while maintaining the precision and rule-governed discourse afforded by quantification.

Repressive coping and the use of passive and active coping strategies

The present experiment investigated whether coping strategies employed by individuals who possess a repressive coping style depend on the intensity of the encountered threat. We expected repressors to employ passive coping strategies (e.g. attentional avoidance) when the intensity of threatening stimuli is low and to shift to more active coping strategies (e.g. thinking positive thoughts) when confronted with strong threats. Individuals classified as repressors and non-repressors worked on a visual-spatial task under either low threat of failure or high threat of failure. Lexical decisions to failure-related words (as compared to neutral words) served as a measure of attentional avoidance. Success imagery generated in response to picture cues served as an indicator of active coping. As expected, repressors showed signs of attentional avoidance in the low threat condition, but not in the high threat condition. Conversely, repressors were more likely to generate success imagery than non-repressors in the high threat condition, but not in the low threat condition.

Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories for positive, negative, and neutral events

AbstractWe investigated memory qualities for positive, negative, and neutral autobiographical events. Participants recalled two personal experiences of each type and then rated their memories on several characteristics (e.g. sensorial and contextual details). They also reported whether they ‘see’ the events in their memories from their own perspective (‘field’ memories) or whether they ‘see’ the self engaged in the event as an observer would (‘observer’ memories). Positive memories contained more sensorial (visual, smell, taste) and contextual (location, time) details than both negative and neutral events, whereas negative and neutral memories did not differ on most dimensions. Positive and negative events were more often recollected with a field perspective than neutral events. Finally, participants were classified in four groups according to the repressive coping style framework. Emotional memories of repressors were not less detailed than those of the other groups. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adjustment to Trauma-Related Stress Helped by Repressive Coping Style

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessAdjustment to Trauma-Related Stress Helped by Repressive Coping StyleJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Nov 2002https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.37.21.0025Ever since the 1970s, certain people have been known to be anxiety repressors. That is, their heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tone, and other physiological measures reveal that they experience anxiety, yet they manage to repress conscious thoughts about their anxiety.What’s more, persons who have had heart attacks are known to be in danger of both acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Thus, some Israeli researchers decided to conduct a study to find out how good an anxiety-repression coping style is at shielding patients from acute stress disorder and from PTSD. As they reported in the September/October Psychosomatic Medicine, the coping style seems to be effective.Karni Ginzburg, Ph.D., a lecturer at Tel Aviv University School of Social Work; Zahava Solomon, Ph.D., a professor there; and Avi Bleich, M.D., chair of psychiatry, selected as their subjects more than 100 patients who had been hospitalized for a heart attack. While the subjects were hospitalized, they filled out a 58-item psychological questionnaire to reveal whether they were anxiety types (persons who feel anxious when threatened with dangerous situations), defensive types (individuals who try to repress their anxiety but fail), successful anxiety-repression types (individuals who tend to repress their anxiety and succeed at it), or low-anxiety types (persons who experience little anxiety when faced with threatening situations).While in the hospital, the subjects were also assessed with the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire, which is based on DSM-IV criteria, to determine whether they were suffering from acute stress disorder. Seven months later, they were evaluated at home with the PTSD Inventory, a self-report questionnaire based on DSM-IV criteria, to determine whether they had PTSD.As Ginzburg explained to Psychiatric News, clinical interviews are definitely preferred when a diagnosis of PTSD is made for clinical purposes. However, for their study purposes, they believed that their standardized self-report questionnaire was superior, not just because it was easier to administer, but because it had both high validity and high specificity.After Ginzberg and her coworkers analyzed their data to categorize their subjects in one of the four stress-reaction groups, they determined how many subjects in each succumbed to either acute stress disorders or PTSD. This way they could see how the repressive-coping types compared with the other three types.They found that 31 percent of their subjects were anxiety types, 26 percent were defensive types, 25 percent were successful anxiety-repression types, and 17 percent were low-anxiety types.They found that 36 percent of the anxiety types, 21 percent of the defensive types, 4 percent of the successful anxiety-repression types, and none of the low-anxiety types experienced acute stress disorder.They found that 19 percent of the anxiety types, 17 percent of the failed anxiety-repression types, 7 percent of the successful anxiety-repression types, and 20 percent of the low-anxiety types experienced PTSD.When Psychiatric News asked Ginzburg whether there might be a contradiction between their finding that no low-anxiety subjects experienced acute stress disorder and their finding that 20 percent of them experienced PTSD, she replied that there was not. The reason, she explained, is that other researchers have found that levels of anxiety experienced immediately after a stressful event are only marginally predictive of whether a person will ultimately experience PTSD.So, putting all these findings together, they suggest that “the repressive coping style may promote adjustment to traumatic stress, both in the short and longer term,” Ginzburg and her coworkers concluded. In other words, this coping style appeared to be superior to both anxiety and defensiveness in preventing acute stress disorder, and superior to anxiety, defensiveness, and low anxiety in preventing PTSD.The findings are useful to psychiatrists, Bleich told Psychiatric News, in that they “promote knowledge of the possible psychiatric consequences of myocardial infarction and suggest a direction for early intervention and therapy when needed.”The study was financed by the Israeli Ministry of Health and the Sarah Peleg Research Foundation.The study, “Repressive Coping Style, Acute Stress Disorder, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Myocardial Infarction,” is posted on the Web at www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/64/5/748. ▪ Psychosomatic Medicine 2002 64 748 ISSUES NewArchived

Do repressors differ on indirect and direct measures of attributional style?

We investigated whether individuals who possess a repressive coping style (repressors) differ in their attributional style depending on how it was assessed. Whereas repressors rated hypothetical negative events to be less likely to be due to internal causes compared to nonrepressors on a direct measure, the opposite pattern was found on an indirect measure, with repressors rating hypothetical negative events to be significantly more likely to be due to internal causes. It is argued that exclusive reliance on direct self-report methods is not a satisfactory way of eliciting information from repressors. Furthermore, we suggest that repressors may have a similar underlying attributional style to depressed individuals, although this may be expressed differently.

Repressive coping style, acute stress disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder after myocardial infarction.

The study examined the associations between repressive coping style, acute stress disorder (ASD) and subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after myocardial infarction (MI) to ascertain the efficacy of repressive coping style in immediate and long-term adjustment to stress. A total of 116 MI patients were examined twice: within a week of their MI (time 1) and 7 months later (time 2). At time 1, repressive coping style, perceived threat, and ASD were measured by self-report questionnaires. In addition, medical measures indicative of the severity of the MI were obtained from patients' hospital records. At time 2, PTSD was assessed. The distribution of the repressive coping style was compared with that of 72 matched control subjects. Findings revealed the adaptiveness of repressive coping style both in the immediate and longer-term aftermath of MI: repressors endorsed less ASD and PTSD than nonrepressors. In addition, the contribution of repressive coping style to PTSD was unique and beyond the implications of severity of MI, perceived threat, and immediate ASD. The findings support the role of repressive coping style as a stress-buffer; several mechanisms that explain this role are suggested.

Repressive Coping Style, Acute Stress Disorder, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Myocardial Infarction

Repressive Coping Style, Acute Stress Disorder, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Myocardial Infarction

The effects of different types of social desirability on the identification of repressors

This study investigated whether different types of social desirability have an impact on the identification of repressors. In addition, it explored the relationship between the repressive coping style and various affect-related measures. Participants completed the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale [Crowne, D.P. & Marlowe, D.A. (1964). The approval motive: Studies in evaluative dependence. New York: Wiley] and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding [Paulhus, D. (1984). Two-component models of socially desirable responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 598–609], which differentiates between self-deceptive positivity (the tendency to give self-reports that are honest, but positively biased) and impression management (deliberately positive self-presentation). These, in conjunction with scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale [Taylor, J.A. (1953). A personality scale of manifest anxirty. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48, 285–290], allowed the generation of three 2×2 categorisations. Participants also completed measures of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), rumination, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and coping. A series of ANOVAs showed that the repressor group scored significantly higher on trait EI, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and “healthy” coping styles, but lower on rumination and “unhealthy” coping styles. In almost every analysis, repressors were significantly different from the non-defensive/high anxious group. There was, however, little evidence to support the notion that different social desirability measures have differential impact on the identification of repressors.

Repressive Coping Style and Adult Romantic Attachment Style: is there a relationship?

Abstract Two studies aimed to explore whether individuals who possess a repressive coping style exhibit an avoidant style of adult romantic attachment. The Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC) and the Bendig version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety (MAS) scale were used to select a repressive coping style group (repressors: high MC, low MAS), three extreme-scoring control groups: low anxious (low MC, low MAS); high anxious (low MC, high MAS) defensive high anxious (high MC, high MAS), and an overall nonrepressor group. Two measures of romantic adult attachment were used: a categorical measure [Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualised as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 52 , 511–524] and a dimensional measure [Romantic Adult Attachment Style Questionnaire, RAASQ; Simpson, J. A. (1990). Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 59 , 971–980]. Repressors scored significantly higher on the avoidant attachment scale of the RAASQ than all nonrepressor groups, although this result was not found with the categorical measure. The results indicate that repressors report higher levels of romantic avoidant attachment than nonrepressors, and also highlight the importance of the type of measure used to elicit information from repressors. These findings suggest a potential link between the repressive coping literature and adult attachment literature.

Repressive Coping and Threat-Avoidance: An Idiographic Stroop Study

It has been found that people unintentionally direct attention to threatening stimuli, but it has been suggested that people with a repressive coping style can inhibit that automatic response. Support for this hypothesis is mixed, however. Consistent with other investigations of this issue, the two studies reported here used a variant of the Stroop procedure. Unlike past studies, though, threatening stimuli were identified idiographically. In line with the assumption that repressive coping is motivated by self-protection, self-concept threats were assessed separately for each participant. Repressors and control participants were presented with these threatening personality traits (i.e., traits they would least want to possess) and also with unfavorable but nonthreatening traits (some other participant’s threatening traits). They named the word colors as quickly as possible. In both studies, only repressors failed to display Stroop interference effects when presented with threatening stimuli. Results indicate that repressors selectively avoid attending to threat-related stimuli.

Manipulation of Physiological and Emotional Responses to Stress in Repressors and Sensitizers

In this study, it was investigated whether the discrepancies between physiological ( p ) and emotional ( e ) stress responses typical for repressors ( p > e ) and sensitizers ( e > p ) can be experimentally induced. Thirty repressors and thirty sensitizers, defined according to questionnaire scores, were tested in a public speaking paradigm. During the anticipation period, they were given either sensitizing or defensive feedback about their own physiological stress responses or no feedback. A discrepancy value between standardized emotional responses and physiological parameters (heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol) was computed. In both manipulated conditions higher emotional than physiological arousal was induced by the sensitizing manipulation, while the inverse discrepancy was induced by the defensive manipulation. In sensitizers, this result was brought about by mere differential changes in emotional arousal whereas in repressors both emotional and physiological arousal changed in opposite directions. Results are discussed with respect to the health-related risks implicated in the repressive coping style.

Explicit and implicit memory, trait anxiety, and repressive coping style

Abstract Individuals with high trait anxiety, low trait anxiety, and repressive coping style were compared on explicit and implicit memory for physical threat words, social threat words, positive words, and neutral words. The results replicate earlier findings to the effect that bias indexes correlate within memory type (implicit and explicit memory, respectively) but not within word category across memory type, suggesting that explicit and implicit memory bias represent two separate forms of emotional processing. Neither explicit nor implicit memory bias, however, was found to be associated with trait anxiety, or with repressive coping style—although an earlier finding of a negative association between anger/irritability and implicit memory bias was partly replicated. On the other hand, repressive coping style was found to be more associated with explicit than implicit memory performance in general (i.e. independently of the valence of words), which suggests the hypothesis that repressors, as compared with high and low trait-anxious individuals, have a general tendency to process information more at an explicit than an implicit level.

A repressive coping style and affective, facial and physiological responses to looking at emotional pictures

Previous studies have demonstrated increased physiological–emotional responses despite relatively low self-reported affect for individuals with a repressive coping style, as compared to control groups. The main question in the current study was whether such group differences could also be demonstrated by using the picture perception methodology of Lang. A second question was whether differences between these groups could be found in the habituation of physiological and emotional responses. Repressors ( n=14), ‘truly’ low anxious participants ( n=14), and moderately high anxious participants ( n=13) were selected with the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Two sets of 27 pictures with alternating neutral, threatening and sexual content were presented whilst valence and arousal ratings, skin conductance, heart rate and facial muscle responses were measured. No straightforward group differences were found. However, the results suggest that differential habituation, and not a repressive coping style, may contribute to differential self-reported, facial and physiological–emotional responses.

Cognitive and affective consequences of repressive coping

This investigation examined whether repressors, individuals who seem especially reactive to emotional stimuli, would attempt to control their emotional reactions to unpleasant events, and whether such attempts would impair repressors’ recall for those stimuli. Participants viewed either an unpleasant or an emotionally neutral film and then reported their mood following the film and their recall memory for details in the film. Repressors reported a more pleasant mood than nonrepressors after the unpleasant film. Repressors did not, however, differ from non-repressors in their memory for details in the film. The results suggest that while repressors are efficient regulators of emotion, the cognitive effects of the repressive coping style are less clear.

Assessing stress and coping in pregnancy and postpartum

This paper evaluates questionnaire measures of stress and coping for use with pregnant and postpartum women. For each area of measurement the main issues or problems are delineated, appropriate measures are described and the validity and reliability of the measures are discussed, as well as the problems and benefits of using each measure with pregnant or postpartum women. Finally, norms are provided for female and obstetric samples, where available.The following constructs are examined: stress, demands of the infant, social support, coping and repressive coping style. A version of the Hassles and Uplifts Scale that was shortened for use with postpartum women is appended. It is hoped that this paper will provide a valuable resource for future research into stress and coping in pregnant and postpartum women.

Early vigilance and late avoidance of threat processing: Repressive coping versus low/high anxiety

The time course of a bias in predicting danger as a function of a repressive coping style was examined. The participants belonged to repressor, low - anxious, or high - anxious groups. They read context sentences predictive of threat or nonthreat event outcomes, followed by target words for rapid naming representing the outcomes. The interval between context and target word was 50 ms (Experiment 1), 550 ms (Experiment 2), or 1050 ms (Experiments 3 and 4). There was bias for naming words confirming threatening outcomes: (a) for repressors in the 550-ms delay condition; and (b) for high - anxiety participants in the 1050-ms delay condition. Repressive coping facilitated early processing of threat, but inhibited late processing, whereas high anxiety was characterised by sustained vigilance for threat. There were clear differences in threat processing by repressors and the low - anxious participants