L’inventaire d’anxiété situationnelle et de trait d’anxiété (IASTA-Y): Structure factorielle et biais linguistique.

The factor structure of the French Canadian version of State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y; Spielberger et al., 1983), the Inventaire d’anxiété situationnelle et de trait d’anxiété (IASTA-Y; Gauthier & Bouchard, 1993), was explored. Both a two-factor (state, trait) structure predicted by the theory associated with the original scale and a four-factor structure (state anxiety present, state anxiety absent, trait anxiety present, trait anxiety absent) have been reported in the literature. In the present study, 361 university students (147 male, 198 female; mean age of 21 years) were administered the IASTA-Y along with a vocabulary test (Mill Hill; Deltour, 1993). The factor structure of the IASTA-Y was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Three models were tested: One factor, two factor (correlated), and four factor (correlated). Results showed that the fit of the four-factor model was better than that of the two simpler models. However, correlational analyses taking into account vocabulary performance revealed that the size of the correlations between scores based on the four-factor model (state-anxiety present, state anxiety absent, trait anxiety present, trait anxiety absent) varied depending on verbal ability, thus indicating linguistic bias in the instrument. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prevalence, distribution, and correlates of math anxiety in college students.

Investigated factors related to the prevalence and intensity of math anxiety in college students. 652 Ss in 2 math courses and 1 psychology course at a large university were tested on the Math Anxiety scale (part of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales), the A-Trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Spielberger's Test Anxiety Inventory. Results indicate that math anxiety occurs frequently among college students and that it is more likely to occur among women than among men and among students with inadequate high school math backgrounds. Higher levels of math anxiety were related to lower mathematics achievement test scores, higher levels of test anxiety, and higher levels of trait anxiety. Implications for the identification and treatment of math-anxious students and for the process of educational/vocational counseling are discussed. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitating and debilitating trait anxiety, situational anxiety, and coping with an anticipated stressor: A process analysis.

19–23 yr-old college students completed anxiety and coping diaries during 10 periods that began 7 days before an academic stressor and continued through the evening after the stressor. Profile analysis was used to examine the anxiety and coping processes in relation to 2 trait anxiety grouping variables: debilitating and facilitating test anxiety (D-TA and F-TA). Anxiety and coping changed over time, and high and low levels of D-TA and F-TA were associated with different daily patterns of anxiety and coping. Participants with a debilitative, as opposed to facilitative, trait anxiety style had lower examination scores, higher anxiety, and less problem-solving coping. Covarying F-TA, high D-TA was associated with a pattern of higher levels of tension, worry, distraction, and avoidant coping, as well as lower levels of proactive coping. Covarying D-TA, high F-TA was associated with higher levels of tension (but not worry or distraction), support seeking, proactive and problem-solving coping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detecting anxiety and defensiveness from visual and auditory cues

Defensive individuals have been shown to differ from nondefensive individuals on a number of physiological and behavioral measures. We report two studies on observers' inferences of defensiveness, and the contribution of communication channels in the inference of defensiveness. Observers judged high and low state anxious segments of high and low trait anxious defensive and nondefensive individuals. Accurate assessments were made of (a) defensiveness, (b) state anxiety, and (c) trait anxiety: Individuals with higher levels of each variable were perceived as more anxious compared with the lower level. Effects for defensiveness and state anxiety were greater in audio-only segments, while effects for trait anxiety were greater in video-only segments. Inferences of defensiveness were greater at higher levels of state anxiety and trait anxiety. Low trait anxious defensive individuals were perceived as more anxious than the true low trait anxious. Results for defensiveness and trait anxiety were replicated in Study 2, and observers' perceptions of state anxiety matched individuals' self-reports: Defensive individuals with maximal differences between high and low state anxiety were seen as more anxious in high state anxiety, while defensive individuals with minimal differences between high and low state anxiety were regarded as less anxious in high state anxiety.     

Trait anxiety, state anxiety, and the estimation of elapsed time.

46 psychiatric inpatients estimated the duration of an experimental session which included assessments of levels of characterological trait anxiety (A-trait) and transitory, fluctuating state anxiety (A-state) before and after a period of muscle relaxation training. In the prerelaxation period 2 of the 3 scores from the paper-and-pencil A-state measure correlated significantly with the estimates; the postrelaxation period anxiety measure scores did not. 17 of the 18 possible relationships between anxiety measure scores and the estimates were nonlinear rather than linear in form. The results indicate that transitory, phenomenological state anxiety, rather than individual differences in anxiety-proneness (A-trait), influences estimates of elapsed time. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interaction model of anxiety and the threat of Quebec's separation from Canada.

The interaction model of anxiety was investigated by assessing trait and state anxiety in students at a Canadian university during the Quebec referendum. The results of Study 1 confirmed that the threat of separation by Quebec from Canada was perceived as an ambiguous, uncertain situation. In Study 2, reactions to this situation were assessed by having participants complete measures of anxiety and situation perception at Time 1 (i.e., 3 hr before the event) and Time 2 (i.e., 1 week after the vote). The results provide support for the interaction model; individuals who were high in trait anxiety in ambiguous situations and appraised the referendum situation as threatening were characterized by elevated state anxiety before the uncertain outcome of the vote. The results illustrate the need to examine trait anxiety and specific appraisals of situational threat in uncertain life situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medical intervention and the interaction model of anxiety.

Employed the interaction model of anxiety to assess the state anxiety of 30 females (aged 19–55 yrs) who underwent either a diagnostic dilation and curettage or a laparoscopy in hospital. Ss were administered the Present Affect Reactions Questionnaire, S-R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness, and Perceptions of Situations Rating Form in both a high stress condition (2 hrs prior to undergoing the medical intervention) and a low stress condition (2 days after discharge). It was predicted that ambiguous trait anxiety would correlate significantly with state anxiety changes since the high stress condition was primarily ambiguous in nature. It was also predicted that significant correlations between state anxiety changes and the noncongruent facets of trait anxiety (interpersonal, physical danger, innocuous, and social evaluation) would not occur. Results indicate that the correlation between ambiguous trait anxiety and state anxiety change scores was significant and that none of the interpersonal, innocuous, and physical danger trait anxiety correlated with state anxiety changes. The unexpected significant correlation between state anxiety changes and social evaluation trait anxiety is attributed to the minimal components of social evaluation present in the high stress condition being relatively potent determinants of state anxiety for high social evaluation trait anxiety persons. (French abstract) (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on medical and premedical students

The inability to cope successfully with the enormous stress of medical education may lead to a cascade of consequences at both a personal and professional level. The present study examined the short-term effects of an 8-week meditation-based stress reduction intervention on premedical and medical students using a well-controlled statistical design. Findings indicate that participation in the intervention can effectively (1) reduce self-reported state and trait anxiety, (2) reduce reports of overall psychological distress including depression, (3) increase scores on overall empathy levels, and (4) increase scores on a measure of spiritual experiences assessed at termination of intervention. These results (5) replicated in the wait-list control group, (6) held across different experiments, and (7) were observed during the exam period. Future research should address potential long-term effects of mindfulness training for medical and premedical students.     

Effects of negative feedback, threat of shock, and level of trait anxiety on the arousal of two components of anxiety.

Investigated the effects of threat of failure and threat of shock on the state anxiety reactions of 175 male undergraduates differing in level of trait anxiety. Consistent with the worry-emotionality distinction, worry scores were aroused only in the failure-threat situation, while emotionality scores tended to be elevated only in the shock-threat condition. Contrary to predictions derived from Spielberger's 1966 State-Trait anxiety theory, A-state scores were higher for high A-trait Ss than for low A-trait Ss in all groups. The prediction of a relationship between A-trait and worry scores was not supported. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resting metabolic rate is influenced by anxiety in college men

The effects of psychological parameters on resting metabolic rate (RMR) have been inadequately researched. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between anxiety and RMR. Seventy-nine male college students completed the trait portion (form Y-2) of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (C. D. Spielberger, R. L. Gorsuch, R. Lushene, P. R. Vagg, and G. A. Jacobs. Self-evaluation questionnaire (form Y). In: Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA, Consulting Psychologists Press, 1983) as a screening. Volunteers whose trait anxiety scores were > or = 1 SD above (52.7 +/- 2.7, n = 9) or below (26.5 +/- 3.0, n = 11) the male college student normal values (38 +/- 9) participated in the study. Fat-free weight was assessed using a seven-site skinfold equation (A. S. Jackson and M. L. Pollock. Phys. Sports Med. 13: 76-90, 1985). Resting metabolism was measured (Sensormedics metabolic cart model 2900) at two separate trials (1-2 wk apart) in the early morning after a 12-h fast and 36 h postexercise. An analysis of covariance with fat-free weight as the covariate revealed a significantly greater (P < 0.005) RMR in the high trait anxious group than in the low trait anxious group. State anxiety (form Y-1) assessments made before and after each RMR measurement revealed a significant main effect of group such that state anxiety was higher in the high trait anxious than in the low trait anxious group for both trials before and after RMR measurement. Moreover, a significant (P < 0.003) main effect for the time factor was found showing that state anxiety was reduced after the RMR procedure. The results of this study show that a statistically significant portion of the variance in RMR can be accounted for by individual differences in anxiety.     

A consciousness-sampling analysis of test anxiety and performance.

To evaluate cognitive-interference, reassertion, and reaction-to-performance models of test anxiety, 82 university students completed the Test Anxiety Scale, provided state measures of anxiety just before and after a course examination, described their preparation for the test, and reported thought content and state anxiety up to 6 times during the test. Test Anxiety Scale scores were predictive of pre- and posttest state anxiety but not performance or problem-solving thought frequency during the test. Thought content was significantly but weakly correlated with performance, which was well correlated with posttest state anxiety but not with pretest anxiety. Pretest state anxiety was virtually uncorrelated with posttest state anxiety, with the correlations gradually declining during the test. Question-answering thought content correlated inversely with anxiety during the test. There was no group for whom anxiety appeared to facilitate performance. Preparation correlated only with performance. Results appear inconsistent with a cognitive-interference interpretation of test anxiety and suggest that, in the naturalistic setting used, anxiety is more clearly an effect than a cause of poor performance. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of anxiety arousal on the consumption of alcohol by alcoholics and social drinkers.

Tested the hypothesis that the arousal of anxiety would lead to an increase in the alcoholic's consumption of alcohol. 20 male nonabstinent alcoholics and 20 male social drinkers were engaged in an alcohol taste rating task. High and low levels of state anxiety were induced by threatening Ss with either a painful or a nonpainful electric shock. Levels of trait anxiety were also assessed using the Neuroticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Alcoholics consumed significantly more alcohol than social drinkers in the tasting task, but the amounts consumed by both groups were unrelated either to the anxiety manipulation factor or trait anxiety scores. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for anxiety-reduction models of alcoholism. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reduction of anxiety vulnerability through the modification of attentional bias: A real-world study using a home-based cognitive bias modification procedure.

Recent laboratory work suggests that biased attentional responding to negative information causally impacts anxiety reactivity to a contrived laboratory stressor. However, it remains unknown whether such attentional bias contributes to real-world anxiety vulnerability. In the present study, the authors addressed this issue by experimentally inducing biased attentional response to emotionally negative stimuli, using a home-based attentional training program and then examining the influence of this attentional manipulation on trait anxiety scores and on state anxiety responses to a subsequent stressful life event. The attentional bias modification procedure was effective in inducing attentional avoidance of negative information. Furthermore, this attentional manipulation served to reduce trait anxiety scores and to attenuate state anxiety responses to the subsequent naturalistic stressor. These findings support the hypotheses that biased attentional responding to emotionally negative information contributes causally to real-world anxiety vulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of coping skills training on generalized self-efficacy and locus of control.

A number of studies have shown that mastery experiences strengthen self-efficacy expectancies that are specific to the mastery situation. In this study I assessed the effects of cognitive–behavioral coping skills training on generalized expectancies concerning self-efficacy and locus of control in test-anxious college students. Compared with a waiting-list control group, the trained subjects exhibited significant decreases on trait and state measures of test anxiety and a higher level of academic performance on classroom tests, as well as changes in specific self-efficacy expectancies relating to test-anxiety management and academic performance. Consistent with generalization predictions derived from self-efficacy theory, the coping skills group also exhibited decreases in general trait anxiety and increased scores on a trait measure of generalized self-efficacy. Locus of control was unaffected by the program, and changes in general self-efficacy were unrelated to changes in locus of control, suggesting the possibility that different parameters of experience are related to changes in the two types of generalized expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biofeedback as a placebo: Anxiety reduction facilitated by training in either suppression or enhancement of alpha brainwaves.

Assessed the differential effects (on experiential reports of anxiety) of actual performance and perceived success at an EEG biofeedback task. 10 college students who were high in trait anxiety (MMPI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) underwent training in either the suppression of enhancement of EEG alpha activity with the expectation that success at their biofeedback task would result in reductions of chronic anxiety levels. Both groups experienced significant reductions in both trait and state anxiety. Anxiety reductions were highly correlated with the trainees' ratings of perceived success at the feedback task but were unrelated to either the direction or magnitude of the changes in their alpha activity. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-disclosure as a function of state and trait anxiety.

Examined the influence of state and trait anxiety on self-disclosure in 48 male college freshmen rated as debilitative or facilitative test-anxious on the Achievement Anxiety Test. Ss participated in a verbal learning experiment under high and low anxiety conditions; self-disclosure was elicited by a personal information questionnaire. The effectiveness of the manipulations was checked using scores on the Anxiety factor of the Mood Adjective Check List. Ss' responses to the questionnaire items were assessed for breadth or amount of self-disclosure, depth or intimacy of self-disclosure, and positive–negative self-evaluation by content analysis of their statements. Results confirm the hypothesis that individuals experiencing state anxiety disclose less than "normals." Findings are discussed in light of various conceptual approaches to anxiety. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety sensitivity, suffocation fear, and breath-holding duration as predictors of response to carbon dioxide challenge.

Predictors of response to carbon dioxide challenge (i.e., breathing deeply and rapidly into a paper bag for 5 min) were evaluated in 78 college students. Zero-order correlations revealed that scores on the Suffocation Fear Scale (SFS; S. Rachman & S. Taylor, 1994) and the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (S. Reiss, R. A. Peterson, D. M. Gursky, & R. J. McNally, 1986) predicted anxiety and self-reported bodily sensations, whereas a behavioral measure of carbon dioxide sensitivity (i.e., maximum breath-holding duration) did not. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the SFS was the only significant predictor of anxiety and bodily sensations. Just as anxiety sensitivity is a better predictor than trait anxiety of the response to biological challenges in general, suffocation fear is a better predictor than anxiety sensitivity for challenges that increase carbon dioxide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing between cognitive and somatic trait and state anxiety in children.

Attempted to develop self-report measures of cognitive and somatic trait and state anxiety for children and to evaluate the utility of distinguishing between cognitive and somatic anxiety. 67 4th-grade children anticipated and then performed a mathematics task either in a high- or low-stress condition. While Ss anticipated performing the task, measures of 7 cognitive behaviors were obtained by means of both a "think aloud" procedure and a questionnaire. Results indicate that the trait and state measures of cognitive and somatic anxiety were reliable. The trait measures of cognitive and somatic anxiety were relatively impervious to induced anxiety states. As expected, cognitive trait anxiety but not somatic trait or state anxiety was related to task performance. High cognitive state and/or trait anxiety was associated with more preoccupation and performance denigration as well as taking less of an analytic attitude toward the situation. Somatic trait and state anxiety were associated with preoccupation. Results support the construct validity of the measures developed and the utility of distinguishing between cognitive and somatic anxiety in children. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressive coping styles: Psychometric patterns and behavioral and physiological responses to stress.

A long-standing problem in stress research has been that individuals' reports of their tendencies to become anxious are often inconsistent with relevant behavioral and physiological indices. This study investigated the distinction between (a) truly low-anxious Ss, who report low trait anxiety on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale and low defensiveness on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and (b) repressors, who report low anxiety but high defensiveness. These groups were compared with a moderately high-anxious one. Heart rate, spontaneous skin resistance responses, and forehead muscle tension were recorded from 40 male college students during a phrase association task. Significant differences in the 3 physiological measures as well as in 3 behavioral ones (reaction time, content avoidance, and verbal interference) all indicated that the repressors were more stressed than the low-anxious Ss despite their claims of lower trait anxiety. The high-anxious group exhibited a 3rd pattern suggesting an intermediate level of anxious responding. These data document the need to distinguish between repressors and truly low-anxious persons in research concerned with relations between self-reported anxiety and behavioral and physiological responses to stress. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety: States, traits—situations?

Investigated the utility of situational assessments of trait anxiety in predicting state anxiety reactions. 96 male undergraduates preselected as either high or low on 3 measures of trait anxiety—Stimulus–Response Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness (S–R GTA) Physical Danger; S–R GTA Evaluation; State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI A-Trait) Anxiety Trait scale—were exposed to 2 experimentally induced stresses (a physical danger stress and an evaluation stress). Results indicate that the STAI A-Trait and the S–R GTA Evaluation measures correlated significantly higher with each other than either did with the S–R GTA Physical Danger measure and that both stresses produced a significant increase in state anxiety. In addition, the triple interaction of type of stress, trait level, and trait measure was, as predicted, significant. This finding indicates that high-trait-anxious Ss responded with greater state reactions when the trait measure corresponded with type of stress. Results are discussed as support for the interaction model of anxiety and for the need to measure situational components of trait anxiety. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)