TY - JOUR
T1 - Low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressive coping styles
T2 - Psychometric patterns and behavioral and physiological responses to stress
AU - Weinberger, Daniel A.
AU - Schwartz, Gary E.
AU - Davidson, Richard J.
PY - 1979/8
Y1 - 1979/8
N2 - 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) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
AB - 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) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
KW - anxiety level & repression, behavioral & physiological responses to stress, male college students
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U2 - 10.1037/0021-843X.88.4.369
DO - 10.1037/0021-843X.88.4.369
M3 - Article
C2 - 479459
AN - SCOPUS:0018719722
VL - 88
SP - 369
EP - 380
JO - Journal of Abnormal Psychology
JF - Journal of Abnormal Psychology
SN - 0021-843X
IS - 4
ER -