Two self-control procedures in the reduction of targeted and nontargeted anxieties.

Compared the effects of relaxation as self-control and a self-control variant of systematic desensitization (SD) in reducing targeted (test anxiety) and nontargeted anxieties with those of wait-list and no-treatment expectancy controls; 12 male and 57 female undergraduates were Ss. Immediately following counseling and at follow-up, groups given relaxation as self-control and SD both reported significantly less debilitating test anxiety and significantly more facilitating test anxiety than controls. In a stressful analog testing condition, self-control groups reported significantly less worry, emotionality, and state test anxiety than controls. While no performance differences were found in the analog situation, relaxation as self-control and modified SD Ss had significantly higher psychology grades than the no-treatment expectancy group. Grades of the wait-list group were not significantly different from those of other groups. The relaxation as self-control group showed reduction and maintenance on both measures of nontargeted anxiety relative to the controls. The modified SD group showed posttreatment reduction on both nontargeted anxiety measures but maintenance on only one. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)