Relationship between repression-sensitization and physical illness.

It was hypothesized that both sensitizers and repressers exceed those individuals falling in the middle of the distribution with respect to frequency and severity of illnesses. The 1st investigation utilized 2 independent samples of undergraduates (N= 173 and 319) who were given the Repression-Sensitization (R-S) Scale and a health survey. Though there was no support for the curvilinearity hypothesis, on 12 of the health items in both samples sensitizers indicated greater frequency and/or severity of illness than did repressers. In the 2nd investigation, a subsample of 85 extreme scorers on the R-S Scale from a pool of 319 students were compared with respect to the number of visits made to the University Health Center during 1 academic yr. Analysis of variance indicated that male sensitizers do in fact seek medical help significantly more frequently than male repressers; for females, Health Center visits were unrelated to R-S scores.