The dimensionality of defense-mechanism parcels in the Defense Style Questionnaire-40.

The Defense Style Questionnaire-40 (DSQ-40; Andrews, Singh, & Bond, 1993) uses pairs of items to measure 20 individual defense mechanisms. In a statistical sense, these item pairs represent parcels and are subject to the standards of unidimensionality demanded of parcels in general. Using a 2-facet modeling approach (N = 672), the present study examined the dimensionality of the defense-mechanism parcels in the DSQ-40 and found that the majority of the parcels did not satisfy the criteria for unidimensionality. In addition, the original 3-factor model of defense styles was not tenable with the present data. Overall, the results suggest caution when attempting to assess individual defense mechanisms using the DSQ-40.