Meaning of the Repression-Sensitization scale: Defensive style or self-report of symptoms of psychopathology

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that the Repression‐Sensitization (R‐S) scale assesses self‐reported symptoms of psychopathology. In Study 1, 42 subjects were assigned randomly to groups that received differing instructions on the extent to which they should report experiencing distress and reveal personal problems. This manipulation produced highly significant group differences and accounted for most of the variability in R‐S scale scores. In Study 2, R‐S scale scores and scores of the Health Opinion Survey were correlated in a sample of 100 subjects. The high correlation obtained for these two measures suggests that both measures assess the same dimension, i.e., self‐report of symptoms of psychopathology. The results of these studies indicate that the R‐S scale is influenced so powerfully by self‐report of symptoms of psychopathology that its usefulness in assessing repression‐sensitization is questionable.