ABSTRACT

Theoretical perspectives on mechanisms of psychological defense have a long history. In the last two decades, researchers have developed several instruments for the assessment of these mechanisms. The present paper presents results of the adaptation of Defensive Style Questionnaire 60 (DSQ-60; Thygesen, Drapeau, Trijsburg, Lecours, & de Roten, 2008) to a Romanian sample (N = 1011). The original DSQ-60 assessed the 30 defense mechanisms described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2003/2000). Results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the original factor structure has acceptable fit on the Romanian sample. However, similar with previous researches on different cultures (e.g., Chinese, Dutch, Egyptian Arabic, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian; see Bond, 2000), the scales had very low internal consistency indicators (Cronbach’s alpha). Therefore, alternate models for grouping the defense mechanisms into higher-order factors were investigated. Results of this analysis indicate a tri-factor solution that has good fit and acceptable internal consistency indicators.  

KEYWORDS: defense styles, adaptation, DSQ-60, confirmatory factor analysis

PAGES: 509-528