The Effects of Bromides on Certain Psychological Test Performances

In a study of motor conflict resolution, 20 Ss in each of two groups, designated as high drive (HD) and low drive (LD) according to scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, had to resolve approach-approach (AP-AP), avoidance-avoidance (AV-AV), and double approach-avoidance (DAP-AV) conflicts. The HD group took significantly longer to resolve all three conflicts than did the LD group; however, resolution time for both drive groups did not differ for the AV-AV and DAP-AV conflicts, but was significantly faster for the AP-AP conflict. It was concluded that manifest anxiety was inversely related to performance in complex conflict situations, and several areas of follow up research were indicated.     

Projective-cognitive assessment of thoughts and feelings and their relationship to adaptive behavior in a dental situation

The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelationships among coping statements, a self-report measure of anxiety and maladaptive overt behavior in a real-life stressful situation. Measures of these variables (interviews using TAT-like cards, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Behavior Profile Rating Scale) were taken from 23 adolescents prior to and during their dental visit. Results indicated that as disruptive "in-chair" overt behavior increased, so did the percentage of coping statements. In addition, as self-report levels of anxiety increased, the percentage of coping statements significantly decreased. Interestingly, there was no significant relationship between self-report levels of anxiety and disruptive in-chair behavior. It was also noted that the subjects' self-report levels of anxiety significantly decreased following their opportunity to verbalize their coping/noncoping statements via the TAT-like procedure. The implications of these interrelationships to cognitive-behavioral theory are discussed.     

The discrepant repressor: differentiation between low anxiety, high anxiety, and repression of anxiety by autonomic-facial-verbal patterns of behavior

This study examined the notion that personality questionnaires can be used to predict different styles of coping with anxiety as expressed by individual differences in patterns of autonomic, verbal, and nonverbal reactions. In line with earlier modifications of the repression-sensitization concept, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS) were used to select four groups of 12 subjects each from a pool of 206 male students in Germany: low-anxious subjects (low MAS, low SDS), repressors (low MAS, high SDS), high-anxious subjects (high MAS, low SDS), and defensive high-anxious subjects (high MAS, high SDS). Several measures of autonomic arousal, facial activity, and self-reported affect were obtained during a potentially anxiety-arousing free-association task and during a number of control conditions, including a funny film. Significant differences in baseline-corrected heart rate and self-reported anxiety as well as rated facial anxiety all indicated that repressors exhibited a discrepancy between low self-reported anxiety and high heart rate and facial anxiety; low-anxious subjects reported an intermediate level of anxiety, although they showed low heart rate and facial anxiety; high-anxious subjects had consistently high values on all three variables; and the defensive high-anxious group showed an intermediate level of anxious responding. These group differences were specific to the task of freely associating to phrases of mixed (sexual, aggressive, neutral) content (but not to other experimental situations) and to self-reported anxiety (but not to other self-rated emotions or task difficult), indicating that they reflect individual differences in coping with anxiety.     

Frequency, determinants, and consequences of different drivers’ emotions: An on-the-road study using self-reports, (observed) behaviour, and physiology

In the present study, the frequency, determinants and consequences of three relevant emotions in traffic were investigated. Based on appraisal theory, it was predicted that the combination of three appraisal components (goal congruence, blame and threat) affects the occurrence of anger, anxiety and happiness. Participants (n = 44) filled in a questionnaire containing background and personality variables, and performed a test drive in an instrumented car. During the drive, speed and heart rate were registered and the traffic environment was recorded on video. Participants verbally reported scores for emotions and perceived risk. The most frequently occurring emotion was anxiety, followed by anger and happiness. Emotions while driving were related to emotional traits. Emotions while driving were also related to traffic events: anger and anxiety were both associated with goal incongruent events, and happiness with goal congruent events. Anger was mostly associated with other-blame and anxiety with situation-blame. Anger was mostly associated with events affecting impeded progress, and anxiety with events affecting safety. Anxiety, but not anger or happiness, was associated with increased perceived risk and with increased heart rate. Participants who reported anger drove faster and exceeded the speed limit more often on a 100 km/road section than participants who did not report anger. These and other results are discussed in terms of appraisal theory and state-trait differences in emotion.     

Worry, anxiety, and preferred length of sleep

Sixty-three female and 43 male undergraduates responded to a "worry" scale, a trait anxiety measure, and a question asking preferred length of sleep to clarify conflicting findings regarding the relationship between worry and anxiety and length of sleep (e.g., Hartmann, 1973; Hicks & Pellegrini, 1977; Kumar & Vaidya, 1984). Worry and length of sleep were positively correlated, supporting Hartmann's contentions. Anxiety was related to sleep in a U-shaped curvilinear fashion. Anxiety and worry were substantially correlated (r = .60) for subjects above the median on worry but were not correlated for subjects below the median. Worry may be the underlying construct in the positive relationship between anxiety and length of sleep for highly anxious persons. Comparison of high worry-low anxiety and low worry-high anxiety groups also suggests that our understanding of the relationships among sleep, anxiety, and worry may benefit from the simultaneous consideration of worry and anxiety factors.     

The effects of dispositional attachment orientations and contextual priming of attachment security on reckless driving

Three studies examined the effects of dispositional attachment orientations and contextual priming of attachment security on the willingness to drive recklessly. In all three, adolescents were exposed to primes of attachment security (a poster in Study 1, a video in Study 2, a guided imagination task in Study 3), positive affect, or neutral affect, and were then asked to report their willingness to drive recklessly. Participants were also asked to report on their attachment orientations (anxiety, avoidance), self-esteem, and self-relevance of driving. Attachment anxiety was related to higher willingness to drive recklessly. In addition, as compared to positive affect and neutral priming, attachment security priming exacerbated highly anxiously attached participants’ tendency to drive recklessly, but reduced this tendency among participants scoring low on attachment anxiety. Importantly, these effects could not be explained by variables unrelated to attachment. The discussion emphasizes the relevance of attachment theory for understanding risk-taking behavior, and relates to practical implications of the studies.     

Psychopathy is related to negative affectivity but not to anxiety sensitivity

Although the hypothesis that psychopathic individuals are characterized by a reduced capacity for experiencing anxiety is central to many theories of psychopathy, most prior studies have examined anxiety and fear measures generally considered outdated in the literature. Moreover, prior findings are mixed, with several studies reporting no relationships between psychopathy and anxiety, and others suggesting negative relationships for the affective, interpersonal aspects of the disorder and positive relationships for the antisocial behavior dimension. To examine whether psychopathy dimensions are associated with contemporary measures of anxiety, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index and State Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait scale were administered to 157 male inmates. Participants also completed the MMPI-derived Welsh Anxiety Scale (WAS), commonly used in psychopathy studies. Analyses provide no evidence for a negative relationship between psychopathy's affective, interpersonal factor and anxiety sensitivity after controlling for trait anxiety. Trait anxiety and WAS scores were positively associated with the antisocial behavior dimension of psychopathy. Findings do replicate prior relationships between the WAS and psychopathy, suggesting the WAS may measure aspects of negative affectivity that differ from anxiety.     

The relationship between dispositional optimism, dispositional pessimism, repressive coping and trait anxiety

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dispositional optimism, dispositional pessimism, repressive coping and trait anxiety. The Marlowe-Crowne scale (MC) and the Bendig version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) were used to select repressor and control groups (N=143, aged between 18 and 47 years), who subsequently completed a measure of dispositional optimism, the Life Orientation Test (LOT), which consists of two sets of items: optimism and pessimism. Repressors (high MC, low MAS) reported significantly lower pessimism than all other participants. When the pessimism scale was divided into high and low categories, there were significantly more repressors in the low pessimism group than the other low trait anxiety group, low anxious (low MC, low MAS). However, for the optimism scale the opposite pattern of results was found, with significantly more low anxious in the high optimism group than repressors. These results support the assertion that the pessimism and optimism scales of the LOT are not the same construct and should be measured separately.     

Why Women Take Fewer Risk Than Men Do: The Mediating Role of State Anxiety

Gender studies have showed that women take fewer risks than men do. Previous research has also provided evidence for a link between negative affect (anxiety and depressive mood) and risk-taking. Little is known about the relationships among these factors. We examined the role of state anxiety in the relationship between gender and risk-taking. Fully 149 undergraduate students filled out the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI) before playing the hot version of the Columbia Card Task (hot CCT), which is designed to measure emotionally based risk-taking behavior. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that gender and state anxiety were associated with risk-taking even when controlling for age, depressive mood, and trait anxiety. Moreover, results pointed out that gender is related to risk-taking through state anxiety. These results offer insights into gender research, as well as affective and decision science. Implications for future studies and applied interventions are discussed.     

Treadmill Gait Analysis Characterizes Gait Alterations in Parkinson's Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Mouse Models

The effect of anxiety on learning and performance of a complex motor task was determined. In addition the effects of two stressors—competition and failure—and the interactions between these stressors and anxiety were investigated. 40 high and 40 low anxiety Ss (selected by the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale) learned and performed a coincident timing task. Competition was presented by offering the Ss a monetary reward for the best performance, while failure was manipulated by giving false knowledge of results and indicating that the performance level was inferior. Results showed that Ss low in anxiety performed significantly better than Ss high in anxiety during the initial learning of a complex motor task. No difference was found between Ss extreme in anxiety once the task was well-learned. Competition and failure did not affect performance or interact with the anxiety level of Ss.     

Anxiety and Depression: Evidence for the Differentiation of Commonly Cooccurring Constructs

Anxiety and depression frequently cooccur diagnostically. This observation has led researchers to investigate whether anxiety and depression can be meaningfully distinguished as unique theoretical constructs or whether they are better conceptualized as features of a general psychological distress. In the present study, we attempted to differentiate self-reported state and trait anxiety from depression in a university sample (N = 593) using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales (EMAS). In addition, we examined the relationship among self-reported anxiety, depression, and neuroticism to determine the extent to which the Anxiety and Depression facet scales of the NEO Personality Inventory—Revised represent distinct and mutually exclusive measures of anxiety and depression. Principal-components analyses and a series of multiple regression models were used to conduct this investigation. Results indicate that both state and trait anxiety and depression can be reliably differentiated with the BDI and the EMAS. Results also suggest that invoking a single general distress factor to explain the strong interrelationships between anxiety and depression in nonclinical samples is premature.     

Gait,balance, mobility and muscle strength in people with anxiety compared to healthy individuals

BackgroundAnxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders. Changes in psychomotor behavior can be observed in gross motor skills, with gait disturbances thought to reflect defective brain functions in psychiatric conditions. While balance deficits are well documented in anxiety, only little is known about gait characteristics of people with anxiety.ObjectiveThis study wishes to examine the existence of differences in gait, balance, mobility and muscle strength between people with anxiety and healthy individuals, and to investigate the relationship between level of anxiety and motor characteristics.MethodsAn observational study was conducted in a psychiatric out-patient unit at a large Israeli general hospital. The sample consisted of 93 participants, ages 18–65: 48 of them (27 female, 21 male) categorized as having anxiety, and 45 (25 female, 20 male) without anxiety. Participants were divided into two groups of various ages and both genders, and completed two questionnaires and four physical tests: objective anxiety assessment (Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale); spatiotemporal gait parameters (10-meter walking test); balance function (Unipedal Stance Test); muscle strength evaluation, and mobility (Time Up and Go Test). No attempt was made to correlate between the anxiety and control groups based on age and/or gender.ResultsParticipants with anxiety (both genders) were characterized by slower walking speed, shorter step length, and fewer steps per minute (p < 0.001), as well as balance deficiency and mobility dysfunction (p < 0.001), compared to the control group. Muscle strength in women with anxiety was found to be significantly lower than in healthy women.ConclusionsTo the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to examine spatiotemporal gait components in patients with anxiety. Based on the findings, there is room to consider implementing gait analysis into the physical examination of patients with anxiety, as well as muscle strength, balance, and mobility function. Correct assessment and proper treatment of these aspects might contribute to the well-being of patients with anxiety.     

The effect of motivation and word characteristics on recognition

Two tachistoscopic studies assessed the effects of motivation on high-speed word processing. Study 1 assessed the effect of anxiety and Study 2 the effect of hunger compared to satiation. Words differed in interletter associative frequency (generated value), Thorndike-Lorge word frequency, and categories. In both studies, all three word variables yielded significant main effects. Motivational relevance of words did not significantly alter word recognition, the food words being most readily recognized and negatively emotional words least readily recognized in both studies. Anxiety did not have a significant effect, but hunger in interaction with word characteristics was found to be facilitating. Contrary to Hullian theory regarding word dominance and drive interaction and to Broadbent's "filtering" hypothesis, hunger in comparison to satiation increasingly facilitated word recognition the more infrequent the words and the more rare were the interletter associations.     

Applicant Anxiety: Examining the sex‐linked anxiety coping theory in job interview contexts

The Sex‐linked Anxiety Coping Theory (SCT) suggests that anxiety should relate to performance more strongly for males than females. In Study 1, we examined how the theory applied to five interview anxiety dimensions (appearance anxiety, behavioral anxiety, communication anxiety, performance anxiety, and social anxiety) using actual job applicants. In general, females reported higher levels of each type of interview anxiety than did males. However, consistent with SCT, Overall Interview Anxiety, Appearance Anxiety, and Social Anxiety demonstrated stronger negative relations with interview performance for males than for females. Consistent with the SCT, in Study 2 we found that females had more effective coping orientations for job interviews than did males.     

The relationship of career indecision and anxiety: A multivariate examination

Authors have usually concluded that attempts to determine the factors that constitute career indecision have led to a confusing picture. Anxiety is one factor that has been typically related to career indecision. Because of the central role that anxiety plays in theories of personality and human behavior, its relationship to career indecision is particularly important. This article reports an empirical study of the relationship of anxiety and career indecision. Canonical correlation analysis and factor analysis were used in examining the relationship of a set of four measures of career indecision and a set of four measures of anxiety. Results suggest a substantial, unidimensional relationship exists between the two sets of measures.     

Attitude towards euthanasia in relation to death anxiety among a sample of 343 nurses in India

Scores on Attitude towards Euthanasia were correlated with scores on Death Anxiety among 343 female nurses in India using Templer's Death Anxiety Scale and the authors' 24-item attitude scale. No significant correlation was found between the two sets of scores (r = -.09) or a nonlinear score on relation. Age of nurses was not significantly related to Attitude towards Euthanasia (r = .07) or Death Anxiety (r = .11). As measured, death anxiety has no bearing on attitude about euthanasia.     

Measurement and correlates of sport-specific cognitive and somatic trait anxiety: The sport anxiety scale

Abstract

Previous research indicates the viability of a distinction between cognitive and somatic components of the anxiety response, and multidimensional anxiety scales have proven useful in relating cognitive and somatic anxiety to behavioral outcomes. This article describes the development and validation of a sport-specific measure of cognitive and somatic trait anxiety. The Sport Anxiety Scale measures individual differences in Somatic Anxiety and in two classes of cognitive anxiety, Worry and Concentration Disruption. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported these dimensions in several different athlete samples. Psychometric properties of the Sport Anxiety Scale are described, as are its relations with other psychological measures and with precompetition affective state measures. In the last of the four studies reported, scores on the Concentration Disruption scale were negatively related to the performance of college football players over the course of a season. The studies suggest that the Sport Anxiety Scale may be useful in defining sport-related anxiety more sharply and assessing how the cognitive and somatic anxiety components relate to performance and other outcome measures in sport.     

Anxiety as a Predictor and Outcome Variable in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA)

Initial moderator analyses in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA) suggested that child anxiety ascertained by parent report on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children 2.3 (DISC Anxiety) differentially moderated the outcome of treatment. Left unanswered were questions regarding the nature of DISC Anxiety, the impact of comorbid conduct problems on the moderating effect of DISC Anxiety, and the clinical significance of DISC Anxiety as a moderator of treatment outcome. Thirty-three percent of MTA subjects met DSM-III-R criteria for an anxiety disorder excluding simple phobias. Of these, two-thirds also met DSM-III-R criteria for comorbid oppositional-defiant or conduct disorder whereas one-third did not, yielding an odds ratio of approximately two for DISC Anxiety, given conduct problems. In this context, exploratory analyses of baseline data suggest that DISC Anxiety may reflect parental attributions regarding child negative affectivity and associated behavior problems (unlike fearfulness), particularly in the area of social interactions, another core component of anxiety that is more typically associated with phobic symptoms. Analyses using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) indicate that the moderating effect of DISC Anxiety continues to favor the inclusion of psychosocial treatment for anxious ADHD children irrespective of the presence or absence of comorbid conduct problems. This effect, which is clinically meaningful, is confined primarily to parent-reported outcomes involving disruptive behavior, internalizing symptoms, and inattention; and is generally stronger for combined than unimodal treatment. Contravening earlier studies, no adverse effect of anxiety on medication response for core ADHD or other outcomes in anxious or nonanxious ADHD children was demonstrated. When treating ADHD, it is important to search for comorbid anxiety and negative affectivity and to adjust treatment strategies accordingly.     

Smoking related to anxiety and depression in Greek medical staff

We assessed the relation of anxiety and depression to smoking behavior in a sample of 80 physicians and surgeons, using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. 27 doctors were nonsmokers, 14 were former smokers, and 39 were current smokers. Current smokers showed significantly higher Anxiety and Depression scores compared to nonsmokers and former smokers, while the latter presented significantly lower Anxiety scores than nonsmokers. In current smokers, the daily quota of cigarettes was not correlated with Anxiety or Depression scores. From our results we can hypothesize that, among medical staff, smoking behavior is more anxiety-related than depression-related. In conclusion, we believe that interventions such as stress management techniques could be effective in lessening Anxiety and diminishing the need for relief searched for in smoking.     

Anxiety, perceptual and motor skills in an underwater environment

This research has analyzed the perceptual and motor skills in an underwater environment at 30 m of 24 subjects differing in diving experience. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Form X-1, was administered to evaluate possible changes in anxiety associated with hyperbaric conditions during the perceptual and motor task. Analysis indicates that in comparison with experienced divers, less experienced divers showed a performance decrement. No changes in anxiety were observed.