E.-J. Hong et al.
Defense mechanisms that Korean college students rely on most frequently are showing off, passive-aggres-
sive, denial, and identification, in this order. This supports Kim Doo-Han’s study (2004), which concluded that
engineering students use denial within the Behavior Inhibition category and art students use showing off [2] [14].
Among the main categories of defense mechanism, the male students display unstable sensitivity, such as
passive-aggressive and behavior inhibition, like denial or rationalization. The female students, on the other hand,
rely on identification and regression. This shows that men depend more on the behavior inhibition mechanism,
while female students opt for the passive defense mechanism. Hence the women are slightly less mature or in-
dependent [2] [12].
Second, the researchers divided the data into 2 groups based on average optimism—the top and bottom 30%
of participants—and analyzed the results.
The high group utilized all the ego exploration sub-categories: control, distortion, and humor. They also
leaned on behavior inhibition, such as rationalization.
In addition, the top optimism group often used mature defense mechanisms, such as altruism and sublimation
[13]. These results are in line with Kim Sang-In’s study which determined that people with high optimism use
mature defense mechanisms. Consequently, they are emotionally happier and psychologically healthier than
those who rely on less mature defense mechanisms [16].
The limitation of this study: the researchers used collected data only from college students from “A” univer-
sity in Korea. Therefore, applying these results to the general population might not be reliable.
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