Original ArticlesChange in Children's Self Confidence and the Use of Defense MechanismsCramer, Phebe PhD Author Information Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Send reprint requests to Phebe Cramer, PhD, Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267. E-mail: [email protected]. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease: August 2018 - Volume 206 - Issue 8 - p 593-597 doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000848 Buy Metrics Abstract Change in the personality trait of self-confidence was studied in a group of children from the Berkeley Guidance Longitudinal study. Self-confidence was assessed at age 6 (n = 99) and again at age 10 (n = 97). Results indicated that a change in level of self-confidence was related to the use of defense mechanisms, as assessed from Thematic Apperception Test stories. A decrease in self-confidence was positively related to the use of the immature defense of denial and negatively related to the use of the relatively mature defense of identification. In contrast, an increase in self-confidence was unrelated to the use of defense mechanisms. Copyright © 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
