Assessing Ego Defense Mechanisms by Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Psychopathological Correlates of the Greek Version of the Plutchik's Life Style Index

Abstract

The Life Style Index (LSI; Plutchik, Kellerman, & Conte, 1979) was designed to assess defense mechanisms, assuming that their use is related to specific affective states and diagnostic concepts. We aimed to assess the psychometric properties of its Greek version and its relation to psychopathological symptoms. The LSI was back-translated into Greek and was administered to 1,261 participants. Six factors were identified, 5 of them largely corresponding to the original version's defenses (compensation, denial, projection, reaction formation, and repression). The sixth factor, named regressive emotionality, included mainly the original scale's regression and displacement factors. Test–retest reliabilities, internal consistencies, and construct validity were quite satisfactory. Most defenses were able to discriminate psychiatric patients from healthy participants and were associated with specific psychopathological symptoms in a theoretically expected mode, further supporting the validity of the Greek version. Our findings suggest that the LSI, based on both psychoevolutionary and psychoanalytic theory, can provide a solid ground for assessing ego defense mechanisms.

Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to all the participants for their willingness to participate in the study. We are also grateful to Dr. Robert Plutchik for providing his permission to proceed with the official translation and standardization of the Life Style Index for the Greek population. We also acknowledge the assistance in data collection and express our appreciation to all the former postgraduate students and residents of the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Ioannina, Greece.