A validation study of the Taylor manifest anxiety scale

Abstract

357been to the United States or England through some exchange program seemed generally quite sensitive to professional trends current in the United States and in the United Kingdom. While these ideas have not been invariably adopted, quite a few of the exchangees have been active disciples of the approaches they had had o p portunity to observe. Ironically, some exchangees were serving to reintroduce concepts of modern dynamic psychology into a country in which such thinking was effectively eradicated under Hitler.It was especially encouraging to see the concept of the team approach implemented with a reasonable degree of success in at least a few of the child guidance clinics. Not only is the team approach important as a method of operation, but it assumes special importance for Germany as it marks a departure from the more stratified, authoritarian pattern that has been so characteristic of the country as a whole. The pattern of collaborative effort of a group of specialists each contributing in his particular way to the understanding and re-educative work with the individual is one which will probably take considerable time to establish broadly there.It was also heartening to find a sensitivity for a need for soundly standardized tests in Germany. While American tests have been "adapted" for use, there was genuine recognition of the fact that something better than make-shift applications t o the German population are needed. Even more significant than this attitude toward the techniques, was a reawakened interest in the individual coupled with a greater concern for his needs and his problems. This interest is by no means confined to psychologists, but is shared by forward-looking administrators in the welfare, social services, youth activities and correctional fields.One especially rich and enlightening experience stemmed from participating in a training seminar for workers in the child guidance field conducted by a British psychiatrist and psychiatric social worker. The discussion of basic concepts that took place served to underscore the differences that remain in the thinking of trained German professionals and a "pick-up" Anglo-American team of clinicians. However, we felt that we derived interesting insights in the interchange of ideas with our German counterparts. It is to be hoped that further exchange of our colleagues with workers in Germany-to allow for even more intensive collaboration and crossfertilization of ideas-will be possible in the future.

Distress and Restraint as Superordinate Dimensions of Self‐Reported Adjustment: A Typological Perspective

“…The Narcissistic Scale of tte Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (Millon, 1982) was chosen to measure charactenstics related to narcissistic personahty disorfer Fmally, Spielberger, Kling, and O'Hagen's (1978) Sociopathy Scale, developed (m jHison poimlations, was mcluded as an indicator of proneness to antisocial personahty disorder 4 Physical illness A physical symptom checklist was developed to assess common physical illness^ and somatic complaints Because a relatively healtby umversity populaticm was emplc^ed m the present study, episodic rather than severe or chrome conditions were mcluded Subjects were asked on a 4-point scale how often tfiey had had a vanety of specific problems dunng tte past year These items were combined into five rationally denved groupmgs ITiey mcluded (a) colds/sore throat (colds, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, cough), (b) digestive distress (nausea, teartbum, chest pains, abdommal pains), (c) extemal lmtation (rash, itching, itching or watenng eyes), (d) ear difficulties (earaches, buzzing or ringing in the ears, dizziness or trouble with balance), and (e) muscle pain (headaches, neck pain, back pain) Domains related primarily to either distress or restraint Two of the domains included m the group analyses, self-concept and neurotic symptoms, were expected to relate pnmanly to distress, and one, impulse gratification, was expected to relate pnmanly to restraint 1 Self-concept Three measures employed by Pearlin and Schooler (1978) were used to assess mdividuals' self-concept, mcludmg the separate positive self-esteem and self-demgration factors of Rosenberg's (1965) measure The third mdex was a mastery scale developed to assess feelings of control over environmental outcomes 2 Neurotic symptoms Two measures were included that have traditionally been used in clmical populations as measures of excessive or neurotic dysphona The 20-item short-form of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale was chosen because it includes those items that discriminated anxious from nonanxious patients in a chmcal population (Hoyt & Magoon, 1954) Sandier and Hazan's (1960) scale of obsessive neurosis was also included as a measure of obsessive worrying 3 Impulse gratification Measures of aggression, debnquency, sexual activity, and drug and alcohol use were included to evaluate individuals' tendencies to gratify hedomstic and antisocial impulses The 16-item short-form of Mauger and Adkmson's (1980) General Aggressiveness scale was chosen to measure aggression It correlates 71 with a longer, empincally denved self-report measure A shortened, 10-item version of Rushton and Chnsjohn's (1981) Self-Report Dehnquency Scale was also included (o = 77) TTie remammg three measures of impulse gratification were developed specifically for tte present study A 13-item Sexual Activity scale (a = 74) was constructed to assess subjects' range and degree of sexual expenence To assess drug and alcdiol use, subjects were asked to rate the frequency of dieir use of vanous substances on comparable 6-pomt scales (1 = never, 6 = more dian three times a week) Based on Gunderson, Russell, and Nail's (1973) assessment of relative seventy, (kug use was divided into three categones (a) manjuana, (b) haUucinogens (e g , LSD, mescahne) or cocaine, and (c) amphetarmnes, barbiturates, or opiates Ttese measures were combmed into a composite index of drug use Sirmlarly, two items were mcluded to assess alcohol use One asked about the frequency of havmg "more than 2 glasses of wine or 2 beers withm a day " The otter asked about the frequency of having "more than 2 mixed dnnks (or 2 oz of hard liquor) withm a day "…”

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

“…Anxiety Scale (Taylor, 1953) and Speilberger's State Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1983). Extensive reliability and validity data have been reported for both (Buss, 1955;Hoyt & Magoon, 1954;Spielberger, 1975;Taylor, 1953). No gender difference emerged in normative scores for either tool.…”

Relationship between manifest anxiety and two indices of autonomic response to stress.

“…Of the anxiety indices which have been used to measure individual differences in response to stress, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety (MA) scale (Taylor, 1953) has been most frequently employed (Child,. This scale has been shown to be related to clinical judgments of anxiety (Buss, 1955;Buss, Wiener, Durkee, & Baer, 19S5;Eriksen & Davids, 1955;Hoyt & Magoon, 1954) as well as to other scalar indices of anxiety and general neuroticism (Bendig, 1957;Cattell & Scheier, 1958;Lauterbach, 1958).…”