Psychological Adaptive Mechanism Maturity, Age, and Depression Symptoms in Advanced-Stage Cancer Patients.

Previously, we reported that the maturity of Psychological Adaptive Mechanism (PAM; alternatively, ego defense mechanism) endorsement, but not depression symptom severity, predicted 5-year survival rates in adult cancer patients and that study controlled for age as a significant variable. In this investigation, we hypothesized that greater PAM maturity would correlate significantly with age and with fewer depression symptoms in a larger sample. In this cross-section study, adult cancer outpatients (=293) completed the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and provided additional clinical data.