Ambivalence and psychopathology in adolescents and young adults

Ambivalence has been associated in theoretical works with psychopathology and with defenses against conflict. In the present investigation, ambivalence was operationalized as mixed feelings. Seventy-five 9th graders (27 males and 48 females), 50 12th graders (19 males and 31 females), and 80 Yale University undergraduates (38 males and 42 females), completed questionnaires assessing ambivalence and psychopathological symptoms such as anxiety. Subjects' repressive and non-repressive styles were also assessed. Mixed feelings were significantly correlated with psychopathological symptoms in the 9th-grade and college samples but not in the 12th-grade sample. For 9th graders, mixed feelings were significantly related to increased levels of dependency, self-criticism, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, anxiety, and public self-consciousness. For college students, mixed feelings were significantly positively correlated with self-criticism and anxiety, as well as significantly negatively correlated with a measure of defensiveness. Some of the 9th graders, 12th graders, and college students may have attempted to cope with their mixed feelings by repressing their ambivalent conflicts. Compared to non-repressive subjects, repressive subjects reported lower levels of mixed feelings. Repressive subjects also reported relatively less uncertainty about their feelings than did non-repressive subjects.