Table 2.

Associations among reflective functioning, attachment security/insecurity, defensive levels and mechanisms.

DMRS-Q		RF	Secure/insecure attachment
Defense levels	High-adaptive	0.471*	0.410*
	Obsessional	0.170	0.101
	Neurotic	0.042	–0.195
	Minor-image distorting	–0.419*	–0.305
	Disavowal	–0.353	–0.287
	Major-image distorting	–0.408*	–0.219
	Action	–0.518**	–0.339
Defense mechanisms	Suppression	0.379*	0.331
	Sublimation	0.195	0.192
	Self-observation	0.364	0.284
	Self-assertion	0.417*	0.233
	Humor	0.218	0.147
	Anticipation	0.242	0.330
	Altruism	0.201	0.120
	Affiliation	0.433*	0.538**
	Isolation of affects	–0.188	0.076
	Intellectualization	–0.091	–0.087
	Undoing	0.449*	0.379*
	Repression	0.245	–0.093
	Dissociation	–0.305	–0.257
	Reaction Formation	0.295	0.328
	Displacement	–0.307	–0.410*
	Devaluation of self-image	–0.278	–0.336
	Devaluation of others’ image	–0.306	–0.302
	Idealization of self-image	–0.268	–0.149
	Idealization of others’ image	–0.252	0.323
	Omnipotence	–0.444*	–0.317
	Denial	–0.170	–0.211
	Rationalization	–0.160	–0.055
	Projection	0.595***	–0.525**
	Autistic fantasy	–0.127	–0.039
	Splitting of self-image	0.643***	–0.518**
	Splitting of others’ image	–0.076	–0.077
	Projective identification	–0.304	–0.135
	Passive aggression	–0.262	–0.142
	Help-rejecting complaining	–0.498**	–0.331
	Acting out	–0.559**	–0.396*

DMRS-Q, defense mechanism rating scale-Q sort; RF, reflective functioning. Attachment (secure coded=1, insecure/disorganized coded=0); *P≤0.05; ** P≤0.01; ***P≤0.001.