Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale Research Articles

The family's adaptation to childhood leukemia

This baseline study obtained data measuring the specific effects of the stress of childhood leukemia on family life and on the lives of individual family members. Mothers, fathers, siblings, and patients were included in the data collection. Specific variables measured were marital adjustment, anxiety level, dynamics of family interaction, and the school behavior of patients and siblings. The data were collected at designated intervals over a one year period beginning at the time of diagnosis. In addition, the data were utilized to speculate on those families that appeared to be at risk for the development of long-term psychosocial problems secondary to, or aggravated by the illness. Results indicated that patterns of coping for families, as well as for individual family members, were relatively constant over time. Families with predominantly stable relationships and adequate support within the family unit were able to maintain their usual quality of life over an extended period of time despite the onset of acute stress. However, families with pre-existing problems prior to diagnosis for the most part experienced increased deterioration in family life and had difficulty coping. Results of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale, the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, the Moos Family Environment Scale, the MMPI, and school data supporting these conclusions are given.

Psychosomatic aspects in idiopathic infertility: Effects of treatment with autogenic training

It has long been recognised that there is a relationship between emotional stress and some forms of infertility. We have endeavoured to estimate ‘stress’ levels before and after Autogenic Training in 15 couples with infertility of at least two years' duration. Potential stress markers were: plasma prolactin, total urinary free cortisol and catecholamines, and four psychological tests: Spielberger State-Trait anxiety scale, Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Cattell 16 personality factor questionnaire, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. A control group of ten normal couples was included for comparison. The biochemical finding of higher mean prolactin levels in the female patients vs their controls was of particular interest. The significant reduction of the prolactin level, in parallel with decreased anxiety scores following treatment, supports the hypothesis that the elevated prolactin levels in these patients are indeed linked with emotional stress.

Personality correlates of polydrug abuse.

Although the personality correlates of heroin addiction, LSD use, and marijuana ingestion have been frequently investigated, few data are available which describe personality or life-style variables correlated with the pattern of polydrug abuse. Polydrug abuse is characterized by ingestion of drugs from a variety of psychopharmacological categories based largely on the availability of a drug at any given time. A group of 17 polydrug users, identified within a group of 224 young adult male hospitalized veterans, was matched for socioeconomic class and age with 17 controls who reported no experience with drugs of any kind. The two groups were then compared on several personality measures. Polydrug addicts were more neurotic and more candid on the Eysenck Personality Inventory, higher in state anxiety on the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale, and higher in sensation seeking as measured by the Zuckerman scale. No differences in dogmatism, ego strength, trait anxiety, extraversion, or fearfulness were found between groups. On the basis of personality characteristics, veterans could be classified into drug-use categories with 97.05% accuracy.