A validation study of the Taylor manifest anxiety scale

Validity and reliability of nonverbal voice measures as indicators of stressor-provoked anxiety

To determine the validity and reliability of vocal jitter, tenseness, and pitch as measures of stressor-provoked anxiety, 88 women representing three coping styles (Highly Anxious, Truly Low Anxious, and Repressor) phonated vowels, reported anxiety, and provided measures of muscle tension, heart rate, and sweating 2 weeks before, the day before, and 1 week after stressful exams. Greater self-reported anxiety, sweating, and heart rate on the day before versus the other occasions confirmed the day before was the most stressful occasion. Results suggest excellent validity and reliability for Jitter as an indicator of stressor-provoked anxiety.

The effects of stress-anxiety and coping styles on heart rate variability

This study explored the effects of a naturally occurring stressor on the amplitudes of the respiratory sinus arrhythmia and Traube-Hering-Mayer bands of the power spectra of cardiac interbeat intervals of 15 Highly Anxious, 15 Truly Low Anxious and 15 Repressor women. Interbeat interval samples were obtained from 4.5 min tachygraph records while the subjects sat quietly 2 weeks before (2W), the day before (DB) and 1 week following (WA) their oral comprehensive examinations. Subjects also reported their state anxiety on each occasion. Repeated measures ANOVA indicated that subjects' state anxiety was greater on the DB than on the other two occasions. Heart rates were faster for the DB than for the 2W and WA occasions. Truly Low Anxious women had slower heart rates, across all occasions, than did Repressors or Highly Anxious women. Although respiratory sinus arrhythmia amplitudes did not differ across occasions, RSA amplitudes were smaller for individuals with high trait anxiety (Repressors and Highly Anxious) than for subjects with low trait anxiety (Truly Low Anxious). Traube-Hering-Mayer amplitudes were smaller on the DB than the 2W or WA occasions for all subjects and were smaller for Repressors or Highly Anxious women than for Truly Low Anxious women across occasions.

Selection of vigilant and avoidant coping strategies among repressors, highly anxious and truly low anxious subjects

70 female graduate students from a western university were classified as to personality type: Highly Anxious, Truly Low Anxious, and Repressing, using a combination of scores from the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scales. Each subject's preference for monitor or blunter coping strategy was assessed via the Miller Behavioral Style Scale. Highly Anxious subjects chose significantly more monitor strategies than did Truly Low Anxious subjects or Repressors. The number of blunter strategies chosen did not differ across personality types. Chi-squared indicated that Highly Anxious subjects were more often classified as monitors than blunters whereas the proportions of monitors and blunters did not significantly differ between Truly Low Anxious subjects and Repressors. Results suggest that the repressor trait is distinct from avoidant and vigilant coping strategies.

Preliminary cross-cultural validity study of Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale

Research on anxiety in non-Western societies has generally assumed an item or response equivalence across cultures. Hence, research has generally used translated forms of inventories such as Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale and Spiel berger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, checking only for semantic equivalence and ignoring the problems of item content and typical response modes. To clarify the viability of these assumptions, the 50-item Manifest Anxiety Scale was administered to groups of South African Europeans and South African Indians, both of whom varied in education. Results suggest that the Taylor scale is sensitive to certain cross-cultural differences and that care should be taken in interpreting the results of the scale when used on non-Western societies, irrespective of educational level.

Personality and background predictors of a young wife's desired family size

A questionnaire that included 19 personality, socioeconomic, and general background variables was administered to 160 childless Caucasian, Protestant wives of college students to discover variables that offered promise as predictors of desired family size. Of the samples, 66% wanted two children, and 14% wanted three children. Four variables--feelings of alienation, father's social class level, level of overt anxiety, and childhood family size--had a combined multiple correlation of .39 with desired family size in a stepwise regression analysis and accounted for almost 15% of the desired family size variance. Results suggest that although desired family size remains difficult to predict, personality factors may be as significant as socioeconomic factors in its prediction.

Maternal influence on child behavior in the dental setting

A significant relationship was observed between the behavior of 127 children (3 to 7 years old), 60 whose treatment involved a dental extraction and 67 a dental examination, and the anxiety level of their mothers as measured by scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. A significant relationship was also found between the mothers' answers to the first three questions on a short preoperative questionnaire and their children's behavior. These results indicated that, in this sample, maternal anxiety appears to be a major factor affecting the behavior of young children during early dental experiences. There is also some indication that a preoperative questionnaire could be substituted for a psychological anxiety test in a variety of clinical settings, thus aiding the clinician in predicting and managing the child's behavior.

Relationship of maternal anxiety to the behavior of young children undergoing dental extraction

A significant relationship was observed between the behavior of 60 children (3 to 7 years old) undergoing a dental extraction and the anxiety level of their mothers as measured by scores on the Taylor manifest anxiety scale. The results of this investigation indicated that, in this sample, maternal anxiety appears to be a major factor affecting the behavior of young children experiencing dental extraction.