DEFENSE STYLE AND FAMILY ENVIRONMENT

Prospective observations of the defense styles of normal individuals s uggest that the quality of the childhood family environment may influe nce the maturity of defense styles used in adulthood. In this study, 1 06 female adolescent psychiatric patients completed the Defense Style Questionnaire, and the Family Environment Scale (FES). Positive family characteristics such as cohesion and expressiveness, as measured by t he FES, were correlated with the report of Mature Defenses. Negative f amily characteristics such as conflict were correlated with the report of Immature Defenses. Similar although weaker correlations were found after controlling for the effects of depression and defensiveness on the self-report measures.