DOES DEFENSE STYLE VARY WITH SEVERITY OF MENTAL DISORDER - AN EMPIRICAL-ASSESSMENT

Bond's Defense Style Questionnaire was administered to control subject s from the general population (n = 50) and to psychiatric outpatients with neurosis (n = 42), high-level personality disorder (n = 37) and l ow-level personality disorder (n = 22). Factor analysis yielded 4 defe nse styles ranging on a continuum from immature to mature; the reliabi lities of the subscales as measured with Cronbach's alpha were adequat e. Three of the styles - the mature, neurotic and immature - were simi lar to the styles in Bond's original study, but the fourth style consi sted of items reflecting inhibition instead of omnipotence as in the o riginal study. The level of defense maturity varied with severity of d isorder. The construct and criterion validity of the measure are discu ssed.