| Four- to five-year-old children rated by their parents on a widely used behavior checklist which scored them in the clinical range on an externalizing dimension of behaviors (aggressive, hyperactive features) (n = 10) were compared to a second externalizing group who, on the same checklist, also scored in the clinical range on an internalizing dimension of behaviors (depressive, anxious features) (n = 10); and to a third Low-Risk group who scored in the non-clinical range on both dimensions (n = 10) in an effort to identify and analyze the use of ego defenses which might be associated with depressive symptomatology and depressive-like phenomena. A coding system consisting of an index of ego defenses appropriate to this age-group and sample was devised and incorporated into a series of play-narratives administered to the children. No significant differences in defense use among the three groups were found. The finding of no-difference supports the contention that specificity of defense use is neither associated with the subclass of diagnostic categories of childhood psychopathology known collectively as the "disruptive behavior disorders" (i.e., Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Disorder, and Conduct Disorder) nor with childhood depression. |
