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A psychometric evaluation of the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 in a UK forensic patient population

Tapp, James, Cottle, Louise, Christmas, Michelle, Stratton, Rose, Gannon, Theresa A., Moore, Estelle (2017) A psychometric evaluation of the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 in a UK forensic patient population. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 29 (2). pp. 288-307. ISSN 1478-9949. (doi:10.1080/14789949.2017.1375542) (KAR id:64081)

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Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2017.1375542

Abstract

Psychological defence mechanisms have been considered important personality processes in the onset, maintenance and recovery of mental disorders. More recently, their application to understanding presenting problems and as potential outcome indicators for forensic patients has been recommended. However, to date there have been no investigations into the reliability and factor structure of defence mechanism assessments for this population. The current study investigated the factor structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 (DSQ) for 160 adult male UK forensic patients. The three-factor model of defences proposed by the DSQ-40 developers was not confirmed in the study sample. Reliability indices of the three factors indicated that the Immature factor was the most ‘acceptable’ in terms of internal consistency. Test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from .70 to .91. A revised three-factor structure that closely corresponds to the original validation study is recommended following an exploratory factor analysis. The findings are compared with previous reliability and factor analytic evaluations of the DSQ-40, and recommendations for its use with forensic patients are discussed.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/14789949.2017.1375542
Uncontrolled keywords: Forensic patients, defence style questionnaire, assessment, reliability, confirmatory factor analysis
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Theresa Gannon
Date Deposited: 19 Oct 2017 08:17 UTC
Last Modified: 29 Sep 2021 11:07 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/64081 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
Gannon, Theresa A.: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5810-4158
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