The Response Evaluation Measure is a brief, coherent, and potentially useful screening instrument for the assessment of defenses in adults and adolescents.

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This study used the Response Evaluation Measure-Youth (REM-Y-71), a self-report measure of 21 defense reactions, among school-age children. Participants were elementary and middle school students (n = 290; grades 3-8; age range: 8-15; mean = 11.73). Factor analysis revealed a 2-factor defense structure consistent with structure among high school and adult samples. The composite REM-Y defense scores for each factor were significant predictors of social desirability, using the Children's Defensiveness Scale (CDS); anxiety, using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC); and psychosocial functioning. This study represents the first cross-sectional empirical analysis of overall defense structure and use among children and early adolescents.

This study examines the relationship between stressful life events and defense mechanisms. Eighty seven female adolescent patients completed the Adolescent Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (A-FILE) assessing stressors in six domains of family life, and the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) assessing 19 defense mechanisms grouped into Immature, Prosocial, and Mature clusters. Increasing stressors are significantly positively correlated with a more immature defense style. Results support the hypothesis that there is an iterative relationship between immature defenses and life stressors. These findings are compatible with a regression model of defense functioning and complement our previous results linking defenses to temperament.