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Evidence for Change in Children's Use of Defense Mechanisms
Author(s) -
Cramer Phebe
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1997.tb00954.x
Subject(s) - denial , psychology , longitudinal study , identification (biology) , developmental psychology , cohort , life span , child development , early childhood , demography , clinical psychology , gerontology , medicine , psychotherapist , botany , pathology , sociology , biology
Using a cohort‐longitudinal design, children's use of the defeneses of denial. projection, and identification was assessed at four points over a 2‐year time span, covering the age period from 6 years, 6 months to 9 years, 5 months. The results showed a clear decrease in the use of denial from early to middle childhood, a sharp increase in the use of projection, and an increase in the use of identification. These findings, predicted by a theory of defense mechanism development, are consistent with cross‐sectional results reported previously.