DEFENSE STYLE IN WOMEN WITH EATING DISORDERS

A relatively new instrument, the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ), re presents an efficient method by which to quantify an individual's psyc hological defense style. We administered the DSQ to 66 women hospitali zed for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or concurrent anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Contrary to our expectations, there were no consisten t patterns of identifiable defense styles specific to these groups in qualitative, univariate, and multivariate analyses. The failure of the DSQ to demonstrate specificity across eating disorder subgroups sugge sts it is not informative in regard to the pathogenesis of these speci fic syndromes. In contrast, in a previous study, we found temperamenta l measures to be informative. (C) 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.