THE SHORT VERSION OF THE DEFENSE STYLE QUESTIONNAIRE - FACTOR STRUCTURE AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL CORRELATES

The Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) is a self-report inventory that measures specific defense mechanisms in terms of DSM-III-R concepts. I n the present study, normal subjects completed the short version of th e DSQ. DSQ scores were then subjected to a factor analysis. This analy sis revealed a three-factor solution with immature defenses loading on the first, mature defenses loading on the second, and emotion-avoidin g defenses loading on the third factor. In addition, DSQ defense mecha nisms were found to explain a significant proportion of the variance o f psychopathological symptomatology in normal subjects, even when cont rolling for the personality factor of neuroticism.