REPRESSION, SELF-CONCEALMENT AND RATIONALITY EMOTIONAL DEFENSIVENESS - THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN 3 QUESTIONNAIRE MEASURES OF DEFENSIVE COPING

We investigated the relationship between three approaches of measuring defensive coping by self-report instruments: The Rationality/Emotiona l Defensiveness Scale (R/ED). the Self-Concealment Scale (SCS), and th e two-dimensional operationalization of repression using the Marlowe-C rowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS-CM) and the Taylor Manifest Anxie ty Scale (MAS). The four questionnaires were administered to a student s sample (N = 224). Analyses of variance of the R/ED and the SCS withi n the two-dimensional repression typology were conducted separately fo r men and women. Repressors (defined by high scores on the SDS-CM and low scores on the MAS) revealed no unique pattern of scores on the R/E D or SCS. The R/ED was positively related to the SDS-CM for men, and t o the MAS for women. The SCS covaried positively with the MAS for both groups, and with the SDS-CM for men. No association was found between self-concealment and rationality/emotional defensiveness. It is concl uded that the three constructs tap different aspects of defensive copi ng.