Differential roles of depressive and anxious symptoms and gender in defensiveness

T E Joiner Jr; N B Schmidt; D R Lerew; J H Cook; T Gencoz; F Gencoz

doi:10.1207/S15327752JPA7502_2

Differential roles of depressive and anxious symptoms and gender in defensiveness

J Pers Assess. 2000 Oct;75(2):200-11. doi: 10.1207/S15327752JPA7502_2.

Authors

T E Joiner Jr¹, N B Schmidt, D R Lerew, J H Cook, T Gencoz, F Gencoz

Affiliation

¹ Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-1270, USA. joiner@psy.fsu.edu

PMID: 11020139
DOI: 10.1207/S15327752JPA7502_2

Abstract

Among a sample of Air Force cadets facing the prospect of basic training (N= 1,190; 1,005 men and 185 women), the influence of a defensive test-taking style on measures of depressive and anxious symptoms was examined. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Steer, 1987) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988), as well as the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) L scale. Results supported hypotheses that defensiveness would affect a self-report measure of depression but not a self-report measure of anxiety and would do so more among men than women. Applied implications of the results are discussed.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety / diagnosis*
Defense Mechanisms*
Denial, Psychological
Depression / diagnosis*
Depression / psychology
Diagnosis, Differential
Female
Humans
MMPI
Male
Sex Factors