Low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressive coping styles: Psychometric patterns and behavioral and physiological responses to stress.

Weinberger, Daniel A.; Schwartz, Gary E.; Davidson, Richard J.

doi:10.1037/0021-843x.88.4.369

Cited by 1,064 publications

(1,060 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

1,004

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, it is also worth noting the association was weak (<.3) and attenuated when other possible confounders were considered. This accords with previous research that stress self-report measures are often inconsistent with behavioural and physiological measures (e.g., Weinberger et al, 1979). It also accords with the 2013 review of HCC studies, which discussed the 'often found ''lack of psychoendocrine covariance''' (Staufenbiel et al, 2013;p.1230); i.e., the dissonance between HCC and self-reported stress.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Hair cortisol and self-reported stress in healthy, working adults

Gidlow

Randall²,

Gillman

et al. 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Chronic stress can be important in the pathology of chronic disease. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are proposed to reflect long term cortisol secretion from exposure to stress. To date, inconsistencies in the relationship between HCC and self-reported stress have been attributed to variation and limitations of perceived stress measurement. We report data from employees of two large public sector worksites (n=132). Socio-demographic, health, lifestyle, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and work-related Effort Reward Imbalance (ERI) were collected at baseline. Participants were asked to respond to mobile text messages every two days, asking them to report current stress levels (Ecological Momentary Assessment, EMA), and mean stress was determined overall, during work hours, and out of work hours. At 12 weeks, the Appraisal of Stressful Life Events Scale (ALES) was completed and 3cm scalp hair samples were taken, from which HCC was determined (to reflect cortisol secretion over the past 12 weeks). Mean response rate to EMA was 81.9±14.9%. Associations between HCC and the various self-reported stress measures (adjusted for use of hair dye) were weak (all <.3). We observed significant associations with HCC for EMA measured stress responses received out of work hours (ρ=.196, p=.013) and ALES Loss subscale (ρ=.241, p=.003), and two individual items from ERI (relating to future work situation). In regression analysis adjusting for other possible confounders, only the HCC-ALES Loss association remained significant (p=.011). Overall, our study confirms that EMA provides a useful measurement tool that can gather perceived stress measures in real-time. But, there was no relationship between self-reported stress collected in this way, and HCC. The modest association between HCC and stress appraisal does however, provide some evidence for the role of cognitive processes in chronic stress.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Hair cortisol and self-reported stress in healthy, working adults

Gidlow

Randall²,

Gillman

et al. 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Results obtained during fear partly confirm those that had been found in other studies in which socially evaluative threat was induced (Barger et al, 1997;Newton & Contrada, 1992) or in which repressors or defensive persons had to deal with self-conceptthreatening topics (e.g., Asendorpf & Scherer, 1983;Weinberger et al, 1979). It was expected that during fear, repressors (or defensive persons), compared with other personality groups, would exhibit an increased heart rate reactivity and a larger increase in the number of SCRs as well as an increased m. corrugator activity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Therefore, this group has often not been included in group comparisons (e.g., KiecoltGlaser & Greenberg, 1983;Newton & Contrada, 1992;Weinberger et al, 1979). As a consequence, any main effects of defensiveness may be attributed to the repressor group.…”

Section: Defensiveness Versus Repressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repressive and defensive coping during fear and anger.

Pauls

Stemmler

2003

Emotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, the relationship between repressive and defensive coping styles and somatovisceral responses as well as emotion self-reports were investigated in 2 situational contexts conceived to induce fear and anger. Anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; L. Laux, P. Glanzmann, P. Schaffner, & C. D. Spielberger, 1981) × Defensiveness (Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale; D. P. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1960) × Emotion (fear, anger) moderated regression analyses revealed that compared with baseline during fear, defensiveness was related to a decrease in heart rate variability. Also during fear, repressive-defensive copers had lower self-reports of negative affect but showed higher behavioral negative affect (m. corrugator reactivity) than other participants. During anger, defensiveness was positively related to both diastolic blood pressure reactivity and m. zygomaticus reactivity. Additional analyses showed that emotional responses of repressivedefensive copers were strongly moderated by the situational context.The history of the repressive-defensive coping style began with the development of the Byrne Repression-Sensitization scale (see Bell & Byrne, 1978). This measure evolved from the perceptual defense literature (e.g., Eriksen, 1966) in which repressors were defined as individuals who have heightened recognition thresholds for anxiety-provoking stimuli. But soon it emerged that the Byrne scale had limited discriminant validity because of its high correlation with trait anxiety measures (e.g., Weinberger, Schwartz, & Davidson, 1979).The repressive coping research progressed with the development of the Marlowe-Crowne (MC) Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) that was originally constructed for the assessment of so-cially desirable responding as a response style. Within 4 years, however, Crowne and Marlowe (1964) recognized that their scale was primarily measuring a substantive individual difference dimension rather than a response bias. Since that time, a formidable body of research has demonstrated that high-MC scorers generally believe what they are reporting and attempt to behave accordingly (e.g., Derakshan & Eysenck, 1999;McCrae & Costa, 1983). However, this insight does not rule out that high-MC scorers can also exaggerate, cheat, and lie, if necessary, to ensure that others recognize their good character or to avoid social disapproval (e.g., Millham, 1974;Paulhus & John, 1998).The core motive behind the excessively agreeable and conforming behavior of high-MC scorers seems to be the maintenance of an idealized self-concept, particularly by the defensive avoidance of negative affect such as anxiety or anger (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964, pp. 150, 190) and the prevention of threat to self-esteem from anticipated social rejection (e.g.,

show abstract

“…For example, individuals high in the trait of repressive defensiveness present themselves in the most positive possible manner (Weinberger 1990). Repressors deny negative information such as anxiety about themselves even though they show increased physiological activation during laboratory stressors (Weinberger et al, 1979). Repressors also exhibit speci®c physiological characteristics, including increased blood glucose levels and opiate intolerance (Jamner et al, 1988).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We hypothesized that the more concerned an individual was regarding these issues the more they would under-report. The third domain of factors would be psychological indicators that were more general in scope such as repression, social desirability and interpersonal distrust as they may affect subject-investigator interactions (Weinberger, 1990;Weinberger et al, 1979;Crowne & Marlowe, 1964). We hypothesized that these variables would be associated with under-reporting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association of energy intake bias with psychological scores of women

et al. 1999

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Assess the association between reporting bias of dietary energy intake and the behavioral and psychological pro®les in women. Design: At baseline a series of questionnaires were administered to 37 women, (the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI), the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), the Restraint Scale and Sorensen-Stunkard's silhouettes). Subjects received training on how to record dietary records. Subjects recorded three days of dietary records to measure energy intake (EI) during a study to determine total energy expenditure (TEE) using doubly labeled water. Reporting accuracy (RA EIaTEE 6 100) was determined for each subject. Statistical analysis of the data used a mixed effects model accounting for within subject variability to determine if the psychological scores were associated with reporting accuracy. Setting and subject: Women were recruited with local advertisements in Tucson, Arizona. The women had a mean ( AE 1 s.d.) age of 43.6 AE 9.3 yrs, body mass index (BMI) of 28.7 AE 8.5 kgam 2 and total body fat (%TBF) of 31.9 AE 7.3%. Results: Age and %TBF were signi®cantly and inversely associated with RA. Furthermore, Social Desirability was negatively associated with RA. Body dissatisfaction and associating a smaller body size than one's own as being more healthy were also associated with a lower RA. Conclusions: These results suggest that Social Desirability and self image of body shape are associated with RA. Modi®cations in subject training may reduce the effect of these factors on RA. Sponsorship: This project was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and

show abstract

Low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressive coping styles: Psychometric patterns and behavioral and physiological responses to stress.

Cited by 1,064 publications

References 36 publications

Hair cortisol and self-reported stress in healthy, working adults

Hair cortisol and self-reported stress in healthy, working adults

Repressive and defensive coping during fear and anger.

The association of energy intake bias with psychological scores of women

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About