The importance of the repressive coping style: findings from 30 years of research

Abstract

During the last three decades there has been substantial research exploring the repressive coping style as defined by Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson. As "repressors," who score low on trait anxiety and high on defensiveness, account for up to 50% of certain populations, they are an essential group for psychologists to study. However, there are methodological issues in identifying repressors as well as considerable evidence that repressors avoid negative self-relevant information. Possible methods of addressing these difficulties are discussed in this review. Importantly, there is a body of evidence linking repressive coping and poor physical health, including heart disease and cancer. However, some preliminary findings suggest that repressors compared to non-repressors may be better at health behaviors that they perceive as under their personal control. This needs more extensive investigation as such behaviors are only one aspect of health and other factors may contribute to repressors' poor physical health. Possible future directions of research are discussed including: the need for systematic empirical research of a new theory of repressive coping--the Vigilance-Avoidance Theory--more longitudinal health studies, and an in-depth exploration of the physiological mechanisms which may underlie repressive coping.

Explainers as an Indicator of Defensive Attitude to Experienced Anxiety in Young Women Differing in Their Styles of Coping with Threatening Stimuli

“…They show a low inclination to consciously experience anxiety during a distressing task, but simultaneously display high anxiety through physiological and behavioural indicators (Asendorph & Scherer, 1983;Derakshan & Eysenck, 1997, 2001a, 2001bMyers, 2000Myers, , 2010. An interesting trend in research on this subject concerns the question of whether repressors avoid threatening stimuli intentionally and consciously or in an automatic and unconscious way.…”

“…High-anxious individuals, on the other hand, are characterised by a high intensity of anxiety and low social desirability (defensiveness). In stressful situations these individuals strongly experience a state of anxiety, which is usually conscious and expressed, for example by disclosing details from their private life which are not required in the study (Myers, 2010).…”

Social support during childhood cancer treatment enhances quality of life at survival [El apoyo social durante el cáncer infantil favorece la calidad de vida en periodo de supervivencia]

“…Although repressive coping style has been tradi-anales de psicología, 2015, vol. 31, nº 3 (octubre) tionally understood as an individual trait style coping, there is some research that has pointed out that this model fails to provide explanations to other complex processes when facing severe stressors (Myers, 2010). In this sense, repressive coping style has been also understood as a posttraumatic or stressor adaptation mechanism that affords both protective and risk factors within distinct domains (Pedersen & Zachariae, 2010;Weiss, 2009).…”

The Role of Maternal Emotional Validation and Invalidation on Children's Emotional Awareness

“…The difficulty with measures that take selfreport at face value is that they assume that the subject has good introspective attention, but having good introspective attention is precisely the factor that an awareness measure is trying to measure. As several researchers have noted, introspection may not be reliable (e.g., Jack & Shallice, 2001;Myers, 2010;Nisbett & Wilson, 1977).…”