Convergent Validity of the Defense Mechanisms Manual and the Defensive Functioning Scale

We examined the convergent validity of Cramer's Defense Mechanisms Manual (DMM; Cramer, 1991b) by comparing it to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994 ) Defensive Functioning Scale (DFS). A total of 60 low income urban women from a primary care medical facility responded to four Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) cards and an interview of early memories and descriptions of significant others. We scored the TAT narratives with the DMM, and we coded the interview narratives with the DFS. DMM Denial and Projection scales were negatively correlated with the DFS Overall Defensive Functioning scale (r= -.28, p< .01 and r= -.22, p< .10, respectively) and were positively correlated with a DFS pathological composite score (r= .36, p< .01 and r= .32, p< .05, respectively). These findings support the convergent validity of the DMM Denial and Projection scales.