Rorschach correlates of state and trait anxiety in college students

This study was done to determine whether Elizur's anxiety scoring (AL) for Rorschach content was correlated to scores on Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The definition of anxiety presented by Elizur implies that his technique measures anxiety as a long-term, relatively stable personality characteristic rather than a transitory emotional state, but no research has shown whether AL was correlated with state and/or trait anxiety as defined and measured by Spielberger. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered in small groups to 40 college students with a repeated measure of STAI State-anxiety and the Rorschach given individually following a delay of at least five days. Analysis indicated that the STAI Trait-anxiety measure correlated significantly with AL. Test-retest correlations for STAI State-anxiety measures and STAI State- and Trait-anxiety measures obtained in the same testing session were significant. State-anxiety scores obtained just prior to Rorschach testing were related to STAI Trait-anxiety scores and initial STAI State-anxiety scores correlated with AL.     

The effects of trait and state anxiety on attention to emotional images: An eye-tracking study

Attentional biases for threatening stimuli have been implicated in the development of anxiety disorders. However, little is known about the relative influences of trait and state anxiety on attentional biases. This study examined the effects of trait and state anxiety on attention to emotional images. Low, mid, and high trait anxious participants completed two trial blocks of an eye-tracking task. Participants viewed image pairs consisting of one emotional (threatening or positive) and one neutral image while their eye movements were recorded. Between trial blocks, participants underwent an anxiety induction. Primary analyses examined the effects of trait and state anxiety on the proportion of viewing time on emotional versus neutral images. State anxiety was associated with increased attention to threatening images for participants, regardless of trait anxiety. Furthermore, when in a state of anxiety, relative to a baseline condition, durations of initial gaze and average fixation were longer on threat versus neutral images. These findings were specific to the threatening images; no anxiety-related differences in attention were found with the positive images. The implications of these results for future research, models of anxiety-related information processing, and clinical interventions for anxiety are discussed.     

The interaction effect of attentional bias and attentional control on dispositional anxiety among adolescents

Research has shown that children and adolescents with attentional control deficits tend to have high anxiety and exhibit threat‐related selective attentional bias. This study aimed to investigate how positive and negative attentional biases would interact with attentional control on dispositional anxiety. One hundred and twenty participants aged 18 years of age or younger participated in a visual dot‐probe task to measure their attentional bias and completed psychological questionnaires to measure their trait anxiety, and attentional control. Mean reaction times to the probe in milliseconds were used to measure attentional bias. Overall, our participants showed a bigger tendency towards attending to positive emotional stimuli than to negative emotional stimuli. Adolescents with high dispositional anxiety showed poorer attentional control. Regression analyses showed that attentional control interact with negative attentional bias to affect anxiety. For participants with high attentional control, higher negative attentional bias was associated with lower trait anxiety. Trait anxiety was not related to negative attentional bias for participants with low attentional control. Positive attentional bias showed no significant relationship with dispositional anxiety, either alone or in interaction with attentional control. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are also discussed.     

Psychometric properties of the State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA): comparison to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

The State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA; M. J. Ree, C. MacLeod, D. French, & V. Locke, 2000) was designed to assess cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety as they pertain to one's mood in the moment (state) and in general (trait). This study extended the previous psychometric findings to a clinical sample and validated the STICSA against a well-published measure of anxiety, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; C. D. Spielberger, 1983). Patients (N=567) at an anxiety disorders clinic were administered a battery of questionnaires. The results of confirmatory factor analyses (Bentler-Bonnett nonnormed fit index, comparative fit index, and Bollen fit index>.90; root-mean-square error of approximation<.05); convergent and discriminant validity analyses; and group comparisons supported the reliability and validity of the STICSA as a measure of state and trait cognitive and somatic anxiety. In addition, compared with the STAI (anxiety: rs/=.64), the STICSA was more strongly correlated with another measure of anxiety (rs>/=.67) and was less strongly correlated with a measure of depression (rs相似文献   

Measurement of anxious traits: a contemporary review and synthesis

Trait anxiety is a characteristic predisposition to appraise stimuli as threatening and respond with anxiety. Trait anxiety is proposed to serve as a vulnerability factor for greater frequency and intensity of anxiety experiences as well as the development of anxious pathology. Cognitive, behavioral, and physiological components of trait anxiety have been described. Common self-report measures of trait anxiety are reviewed with an emphasis on: components assessed, factor structure, internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity. Measures were selected if instructions ask individuals to endorse items based on their characteristic, rather than a time sensitive, response. Selection criteria resulted in a focus on the following measures: the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Anxiety Inventory-Trait (BAIT), Cognitive Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire (CSAQ), Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales-Trait (EMAS-T), Four Systems Anxiety Questionnaire (FSAQ), State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA), and the Three Systems Anxiety Questionnaire (TSAQ). While the STAI has the advantage of normative data and frequent use in prior research, newer measures, such as the BAIT and the STICSA, demonstrate greater discriminant validity. The strengths and weaknesses of each of the reviewed measures are highlighted. Recommendations for measure selection and future research are provided.     

Anxiety reactivity and anxiety perseveration represent dissociable dimensions of anxiety vulnerability: A replication and extension

Trait anxiety is a unitary construct reflecting individual differences in the tendency to experience anxious symptomatology, typically measured with questionnaires such as the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI‐T). Recent research by Rudaizky, Page, and MacLeod has found evidence that two different dimensions of trait anxiety account for independent variance in trait anxiety scores. These dimensions are anxiety reactivity (AR), reflecting the probability of experiencing an anxious reaction, and anxiety perseveration (AP), reflecting the persistence of anxious symptoms once elicited. There are two key issues addressed in this study: first, the replicability of Rudaizky et al.'s findings and second, the ability of the measures of AR and AP developed by Rudaizky et al. to predict independent variance in STAI‐T scores after statistically controlling for variance shared with a measure of depression. Regression analysis determined that AR and AP do account for independent variance in STAI‐T trait anxiety scores even after statistically controlling for depression. The implications of these findings for the understanding of anxiety vulnerability are discussed.     

特质焦虑在面部表情前注意加工阶段的影响：来自ERP的证据

为探讨高特质焦虑者在前注意阶段对情绪刺激的加工模式以明确其情绪偏向性特点, 本研究采用偏差-标准反转Oddball范式探讨了特质焦虑对面部表情前注意加工的影响。结果发现: 对于低特质焦虑组, 悲伤面孔所诱发的早期EMMN显著大于快乐面孔, 而对于高特质焦虑组, 快乐和悲伤面孔所诱发的早期EMMN差异不显著。并且, 高特质焦虑组的快乐面孔EMMN波幅显著大于低特质焦虑组。结果表明, 人格特质是影响面部表情前注意加工的重要因素。不同于普通被试, 高特质焦虑者在前注意阶段对快乐和悲伤面孔存在相类似的加工模式, 可能难以有效区分快乐和悲伤情绪面孔。     

An investigation into the jumping-to-conclusions bias in social anxiety

‘Jumping-to-Conclusions’ (JTC) is a data-gathering bias characterised by hasty decision-making, and is typically seen in individuals with high levels of delusions or paranoia. JTC has also been found in people with high trait and state anxiety. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between JTC and trait social anxiety and state anxiety, given paranoia is common in both social anxiety and psychotic disorders. One-hundred-and-eighty-six undergraduate students were allocated to a manipulation or control condition, and classified as high or low socially anxious. All participants completed the ‘beads task’ to assess JTC, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (state subscale) to assess state anxiety. Participants in the manipulation condition were given an anxiety-inducing situation. Although the manipulation was effective in inducing state anxiety, there was no significant correlation between JTC and trait or state social anxiety. High socially anxious individuals showed more conservative decision-making than controls over time, which was posited to be caused by inhibited working memory resulting from increased state anxiety.     

The Effects of Social Anxiety and State Anxiety on Visual Attention: Testing the Vigilance–Avoidance Hypothesis

A growing theoretical and research literature suggests that trait and state social anxiety can predict attentional patterns in the presence of emotional stimuli. The current study adds to this literature by examining the effects of state anxiety on visual attention and testing the vigilance–avoidance hypothesis, using a method of continuous visual attentional assessment. Participants were 91 undergraduate college students with high or low trait fear of negative evaluation (FNE), a core aspect of social anxiety, who were randomly assigned to either a high or low state anxiety condition. Participants engaged in a free view task in which pairs of emotional facial stimuli were presented and eye movements were continuously monitored. Overall, participants with high FNE avoided angry stimuli and participants with high state anxiety attended to positive stimuli. Participants with high state anxiety and high FNE were avoidant of angry faces, whereas participants with low state and low FNE exhibited a bias toward angry faces. The study provided partial support for the vigilance–avoidance hypothesis. The findings add to the mixed results in the literature that suggest that both positive and negative emotional stimuli may be important in understanding the complex attention patterns associated with social anxiety. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

不同线索下特质焦虑个体的返回抑制

焦虑与注意偏向的研究是近年来情绪与认知领域的热点。为探讨特质焦虑个体的注意偏向特点及其返回抑制能力是否受不同线索的调节, 采用特质焦虑量表筛选高特质焦虑大学生29名, 低特质焦虑大学生28名完成线索-靶子任务。要求被试在提示线索消失后, 对位置进行快而准地辨别反应, 分别探索中性和情绪性提示线索下被试的返回抑制。结果发现：(1)在中性线索条件下, 高焦虑个体平均反应时慢于低焦虑个体。(2) 在情绪线索条件下, 高焦虑个体在负性线索下的反应时小于在正性线索下的反应时; 高、低焦虑个体在各种SOA条件下均出现了返回抑制, 但各组返回抑制量受到情绪线索的调节：在正性情绪线索条件下, 两组返回抑制量没有显著差异; 在负性情绪线索下, 高焦虑个体返回抑制量显著小于低焦虑个体。这表明, (1)焦虑个体的注意偏向受到刺激信息的影响：只对负性情绪线索出现注意警觉; (2)只有在涉及负性情绪信息时高、低焦虑个体返回抑制能力才有差异, 高焦虑个体存在对负性情绪线索的抑制困难。     

Time course of attentional bias to emotional scenes in anxiety: Gaze direction and duration

Pictures of emotionally neutral, positive, and negative (threat- or harm-related) scenes were presented for 3 seconds, paired with nonemotional control pictures. The eye fixations of high and low trait anxiety participants were monitored. Intensity of stimulus emotionality was varied, with two levels of perceptual salience for each picture (colour vs. greyscale). Regardless of perceptual salience, high anxiety was associated with preferential attention: (a) towards all types of emotional stimuli in initial orienting, as revealed by a higher probability of first fixation on the emotional picture than on the neutral picture of a pair; (b) towards positive and harm stimuli in a subsequent stage of early engagement, as shown by longer viewing times during the first 500 ms following onset of the pictures; and with (c) attention away from (i.e., avoidance) harm stimuli in a later phase, as indicated by shorter viewing times and lower frequency of fixation during the last 1000 ms of picture exposure. This suggests that the nature of the attentional bias varies as a function of the time course in the processing of emotional pictures.     

Time course of attentional bias to emotional scenes in anxiety: Gaze direction and duration

Pictures of emotionally neutral, positive, and negative (threat‐ or harm‐related) scenes were presented for 3 seconds, paired with nonemotional control pictures. The eye fixations of high and low trait anxiety participants were monitored. Intensity of stimulus emotionality was varied, with two levels of perceptual salience for each picture (colour vs. greyscale). Regardless of perceptual salience, high anxiety was associated with preferential attention: (a) towards all types of emotional stimuli in initial orienting, as revealed by a higher probability of first fixation on the emotional picture than on the neutral picture of a pair; (b) towards positive and harm stimuli in a subsequent stage of early engagement, as shown by longer viewing times during the first 500 ms following onset of the pictures; and with (c) attention away from (i.e., avoidance) harm stimuli in a later phase, as indicated by shorter viewing times and lower frequency of fixation during the last 1000 ms of picture exposure. This suggests that the nature of the attentional bias varies as a function of the time course in the processing of emotional pictures.     

Psychometric revision and differential item functioning in the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

One of the psychological problems with highest prevalence is anxiety. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory is one of the instruments to measure it. This questionnaire assesses Trait Anxiety (understood as a personality factor that predisposes one to suffer from anxiety) and State Anxiety (refers to environment factors that protect from or generate anxiety). The questionnaire was adapted in Spain in 1982. Therefore, the goal of the study is to review the current psychometric properties of the STAI. A total of 1036 adults took part in the study. Cronbach's alpha reliability was .90 for Trait and .94 for State Anxiety. Factor analysis showed similar results compared with the original data. Moreover, differential item functioning (DIF) was carried out to explore sex bias. Only one of the 40 items showed DIF problems. Lastly, a t-Test was run, comparing the original and current values; whereas Trait Anxiety varied in 1 point, State Anxiety had differences of up to 6 points. In general, this result shows that the STAI has maintained adequate psychometric properties and has also been sensitive to increased environmental stimuli that produce stress.     

A preliminary examination of the effect of massage on state body image

Evidence suggests positive effects of massage on psychological health; however, little is known about the effects of massage on body image. This research examined the effect of massage on state body image as well as relations between trait body image and attitudes toward massage. Forty-nine female university students were randomly assigned to either a massage condition or a control condition. It was hypothesized that participants in the massage condition would report improved state body image following the intervention when compared to participants in the control condition. As predicted, participants in the massage condition reported a more favorable state body image than participants in the control condition post-manipulation. Certain body image evaluations were moderately associated with views that massage is pleasurable, with the link between Body Areas Satisfaction and viewing massage as pleasurable reaching significance. Research is needed to determine the mechanism/s through which massage improves body image.     

THE EFFECTS OF VIEWING SAME-GENDER PHOTOGRAPHIC MODELS ON BODY-ESTEEM

This study was designed to investigate the effects of viewing samegender photographic models on women and men's body-esteem. Women and men completed body-esteem scales before and after viewing pictures of same-gender photographic models (experimental group) or landscapes (control group). Women scored significantly lower than men on the body-esteem scale [F(1, 90) = 58.5, p < .001]. Women [F(1, 90) = 8.70, p < .05] and men [F(1, 90) = 4.17, p < .05] in the experimental group showed a significant decrease in body-esteem after seeing the photographs and the controls showed no significant change [women F(1, 90) = 0.57; men F(1, 90) = 0.00]. Results suggest that upward comparisons are made by women and men when viewing attractive same-gender models.     

刷微博，让焦虑的人更焦虑——特质焦虑对青少年注意情绪刺激的影响

采用自由观看眼动追踪范式,考察特质焦虑青少年在观看情绪面孔图片过程中的眼动轨迹。结果发现,高特质焦虑组对愤怒和恐惧面孔的首次注视到达时间（TFF）较快,首次注视持续时间（TFD）较短;低特质焦虑组对愤怒和恐惧面孔的TFF虽然稍早于平静面孔,但差异不显著。在刺激呈现1000ms之后,高特质焦虑组对愤怒和恐惧面孔的注视次数（FC）较多,平均注视持续时间（AFD）较短。低特质焦虑组对愤怒和恐惧面孔的FC较少,AFD较长;这就表明,高特质焦虑青少年在认知加工早期对威胁性刺激注意定向加速,没有注意解除困难,呈现“浅尝辄止”现象。而在认知加工晚期,他们则对威胁性刺激存在“反刍”现象。     

Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Their Caregivers

A large number of studies have investigated a variety of psychological aspects in people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, but there is still considerable uncertainty concerning the actual morbidity, in particular for anxiety. We aim to evaluate depression levels and anxiety disposition in ALS patients and their caregivers, in comparison to healthy controls. We conducted a cross-sectional comparison between people with ALS, their caregivers and a non-clinical control group in order to evaluate anxiety and depression levels. 40 ALS patients, their caregivers and 40 healthy adult subjects completed the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory—Y2 scale (STAI). We compared overall and single item scores in order to find differences between the three groups. BDI-II scores were significantly different between groups. Depression scores were higher for patients than for healthy controls, in both somatic and psychological sub-scales. Caregivers presented higher levels of psychological depression in comparison with healthy controls, and lower scores of somatic depression in comparison to patients. No differences were found in trait anxiety levels comparing the three groups. ALS patients and their caregivers developed more depression related symptomatology than the non-clinical sample. However, susceptibility to anxiety for both patients and caregivers seemed to be at a normal level.     

特质焦虑个体在高难度Stroop任务下的情绪启动效应

通过问卷法,选取特质焦虑和非特质焦虑被试作为本实验的研究对象,考察了正性、负性、中性三种不同的情绪对不同特质焦虑个体认知抑制的影响。在Stroop任务之前呈现三种情绪图片,结果发现,相比非特质焦虑被试,特质焦虑被试的Stroop效应量更大;特质焦虑被试和非特质焦虑被试在正性和负性情绪条件下的Stroop效应量均更大。说明特质焦虑被试的认知抑制功能存在不足,正性和负性情绪对特质焦虑和非特质焦虑被试的认知抑制均存在阻碍作用。     

Relationships between locus of control, trait anxiety, and state anxiety: an interactionist perspective.

This study examined the relationships among generalized expectancy for internal or external control, situational expectancy of control over aversive stimuli, trait anxiety level, and state anxiety reactivity. Seventy-two male subjects, selected from the upper and lower halves of the distributions of scores from the I-E and STAI A-Trait Scales, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions of expectancy of control over electric shock. Repeated measures of state anxiety were taken at three points in the experiment, and subjects were asked to rate the degree of control they expected to have in avoiding shocks. Results, based upon analyses of variance, were interpreted as strongly supportive of the use of the interactionist model in understanding the manner in which personality trait and situational variables interact in the determination of subject expectancies of control and anxiety reactivity.     

自动化情绪调节策略对特质焦虑大学生应激反应的影响

研究采用句子整理任务诱发自动化情绪调节策略,特里尔社会应激测试模拟应激过程,以探讨认知重评和表达抑制对不同特质焦虑倾向大学生在应激状态下的影响。结果发现,自动化认知重评和表达抑制能获得适应性生理反应。自动化情绪调节策略适用于不同特质焦虑倾向的个体。特质焦虑对个体应激反应的影响主要体现在情绪体验上,高焦虑特质个体更易体验到焦虑情绪。但个体在压力性任务中的生理反应和行为表现不受特质焦虑因素的影响。