Showing papers in "Anxiety Stress and Coping in 1996"
TL;DR: The study found support for the validity of the scale through its consistency with the issues that participants raised in an open-ended questionnaire.
Abstract: This study assessed the extent to which a recently developed measure of burnout extended the concept of burnout as developed among human service providers to people in other occupations. The study replicated a factor structure derived from a study of aircraft maintenance workers, computer programmers, and administrators with staff in various occupations across two health care settings: a tertiary care hospital (N=3,312) and a residential mental health facility (N=417). Within the larger setting the analysis replicated the factor structure with four occupational groups: clerical/maintenance workers, technical personnel, nurses, and managers. The study found support for the validity of the scale through its consistency with the issues that participants raised in an open-ended questionnaire. Conceptual issues in burnout theory and suggestions for further research are presented.
487 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined antecedents and consequences of psychological burnout among 362 teachers and school administrators and found that burnout served as a mediator between the predictors and emotional and physical health outcomes.
Abstract: This longitudinal study examined antecedents and consequences of psychological burnout among 362 teachers and school administrators. Antecedents included red tape, disruptive students and lack of supervisor support. Consequences of burnout included heart symptoms and depressive mood. Respondents completed questionnaires sent to them at their schools at two points in time, one year apart. LISREL analyses indicated that the predictors had significant relationships with burnout levels one year later, and that burnout served as a mediator between the predictors and emotional and physical health outcomes.
398 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the buffering effect on burnout of various forms of social support from different sources, such as the teacher's supervisor, co-workers and friends and family, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).
Abstract: The present study was conducted in order to examine the buffering effect on burnout of various forms of social support from different sources. Respondents in the study were female and male teachers. Burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) composed of three subscales: Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization and Lack of Personal Accomplishment. Social support was assessed by a modified version of the Caplan scale. The effects of three types of support were assessed: Informational, practical and emotional support from three sources — the teacher's supervisor, co-workers and friends and family. Examination of multiple regression interaction terms between support and sources of stress indicate that, of the three sources of social support, a teacher's co-workers are the most important buffers of emotional exhaustion. There was a buffering effect of informational support on emotional exhaustion. When emotional support functioned as a buffer, the effects were observed in depersonal...
144 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the intensity and direction of competitive state anxiety and self-confidence and relationships with performance, in order to determine the relative contribution that these dimensions make to explaining performance variance.
Abstract: This study examined the intensity (i.e., level) and direction (i.e., debilitative/facilitative) of competitive state anxiety and self-confidence and relationships with performance, in order to determine the relative contribution that these dimensions make to explaining performance variance. A longitudinal design was employed to permit a within-subjects analysis of both the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) and performance data. The inventory included the original scale plus a direction scale in which subjects rated the degree to which the experienced intensity was either facilitative or debilitative to subsequent performance. Ten subjects comprising the Loughborough University men's basketball squad completed the modified CSAI-2 20 minutes prior to each of six league matches. The objective measure of basketball performance employed was that developed by Sonstroem and Bernardo (1982). Standardized scores were computed for all subjects' modified CSAI-2 and performance scores in order t...
134 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined changes in health behaviors as a function of academic stress and found that negative affect increased and positive affect decreased significantly, while health behaviors deteriorated during high and low academic demands.
Abstract: The present study examined changes in health behaviors as a function of academic stress. One-hundred and thirty-three college undergraduate students completed measures of stress, affect, and health-behaviors during times of low and high academic demands. During the high-stress period, negative affect increased and positive affect decreased significantly, while health behaviors deteriorated. The strongest decrements were observed for exercise. Generally, women scored higher on “routine health behaviors” (i.e., self-care, vehicle safety, drug avoidance), but not on behaviors requiring effort (i.e., exercise, healthy nutrition). Distinct patterns of changes in health behaviors and affect were observed: decreases in exercise and self-care were accompanied by decreases in positive affect, whereas decreases in drug avoidance were associated with increases in negative affect. Decreases in the quality of nutrition were linked to both decreases in positive and increases in negative affect. These results s...
124 citations
TL;DR: In this article, survey responses from a sample of 337 Canadian teachers were used to estimate the value of the variables in a model explaining teacher burnout which included, in addition to leadership, both personal and organizational variables associated with burnout in previous empirical studies.
Abstract: School restructuring processes typically increase teacher stress and the potential for burnout. This study inquired about the contribution of transformational forms of school leadership to the amelioration of burnout in restructuring contexts. Survey responses from a sample of 337 Canadian teachers were used to estimate the value of the variables in a model explaining teacher burnout which included, in addition to leadership, both personal and organizational variables associated with burnout in previous empirical studies. The LISREL 8 analysis of covariance structure aproach to path analysis and maximum likelihood estimates was used to test the model. Results indicated that leadership had a combined direct and indirect effect on burnout of .34, organizational factors .50, and personal factors .15.
105 citations
TL;DR: Guastello's method of dynamic differences was used to fit catastrophe and multidimensional anxiety theory based behavior surfaces to data obtained from eight experienced golfers as mentioned in this paper, who were first taught to self-report their cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence levels as a single integer on a scale from 1 (low) to 27 (high).
Abstract: Guastello's method of dynamic differences was used to fit catastrophe and multidimensional anxiety theory based behavior surfaces to data obtained from eight experienced golfers. The subjects were first taught to self-report their cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence levels as a single integer on a scale from 1 (low) to 27 (high). These single integer scales were then used to monitor levels of cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence, together with physiological arousal (operationalized as heart rate), prior to each putt during a Stapleford golf competition. All data was standardized within subjects in order to control for individual differences in response sensitivity and putting ability. Preliminary examination of the results suggested that the catastrophe models were superior to the multidimensional anxiety theory models, and that the inclusion of self-confidence significantly improved the goodness of fit of both models. However, further tests of other control models suggested that the apparent superiority of the catstrophe models was probably due to the inclusion of a temporal factor in Guastello's method of dynamic differences. It was concluded that the results do not offer any clear evidence for the superiority of either catastrophe or multidimensional anxiety theory based models of anxiety and performance. They do suggest that self-confidence is an important factor in performance which is at least partially independent of cognitive anxiety. They also suggest that future research might benefit considering performance as an ongoing temporal process rather than a discrete event.
75 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of the ZOF research revealed that it has fairly good support, although a number of the existing studies have inherent methodological and/or conceptual limitations, and that future investigators design studies aimed at better understanding why ZOFs exist and how they may influence athletic performance via mechanisms such as attentional and muscle tension/coordination changes.
Abstract: This manuscript reviews and critiques Hanin's (1980, 1986) Zones of Optimal Functioning (ZOF) state-anxiety performance relationship hypothesis and the research that has been conducted to test its effectiveness. The review of the ZOF research revealed that it has fairly good support, although a number of the existing studies have inherent methodological and/or conceptual limitations. One major weakness identified with the ZOF notion was its lack of any theoretical base. Hence, it was emphasized that future investigators design studies aimed at better understanding “why” ZOFs exist and “how” they may influence athletic performance via mechanisms such as attentional and muscle tension/coordination changes. Finally, a number of future research directions were forwarded. These included: the need for more adequate and complete ZOF tests; direct comparisons of the power of multidimensional and undimensional state anxiety generated ZOFs to predict performance; ZOF task type performance studies; investig...
61 citations
TL;DR: Results of the research revealed that, irrespective of the controllability of the event, problem appraisal coping strategies and emotion-focused strategies were associated with high and low levels of concurrent adjustment, respectively.
Abstract: The primary aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which the effects of coping on adjustment are moderated by levels of event controllability. Specifically, the research tested two revisions to the goodness of fit model of coping effectiveness. First, it was hypothesized that the effects of problem management coping (but not problem appraisal coping) would be moderated by levels of event controllability. Second, it was hypothesized that the effects of emotion-focused coping would be moderated by event controllability, but only in the acute phase of a stressful encounter. To test these predictions, a longitudinal study was undertaken (185 undergraduate students participated in all three stages of the research). Measures of initial adjustment (low depression and coping efficacy) were obtained at Time 1. Four weeks later (Time 2), coping responses to a current or a recent stressor were assessed. Based on subjects' descriptions of the event, objective and subjective measures of event controllability were also obtained. Measures of concurrent and subsequent adjustment were obtained at Times 2 and 3 (two weeks later), respectively. There was only weak support for the goodness of fit model of coping effectiveness. The beneficial effects of a high proportion of problem management coping (relative to total coping efforts) on Time 3 perceptions of coping efficacy were more evident in high control than in low control situations. Other results of the research revealed that, irrespective of the controllability of the event, problem appraisal coping strategies and emotion-focused strategies (escapism and self-denigration) were associated with high and low levels of concurrent adjustment, respectively. The effects of these coping responses on subsequent adjustment were mediated through concurrent levels of adjustment.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss anxiety, stress, and coping: 1988-1996, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. i-i and i-ii.
Abstract: (1996). Anxiety, stress, and coping: 1988–1996. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. i-i.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduced a conceptually derived model, "Multipathway to Burnout (MPB)" which describes the optional paths of burnout sensation as it moves from low to high levels of severity.
Abstract: This article introduces a conceptually derived model, “Multipathway to Burnout (MPB)”, which describes the optional paths of burnout sensation as it moves from low to high levels of severity. The MPB model specifies how, as a result of stress, burnout in teachers can develop in a “pincer-movement” with two identifiable “flanks”: Cognitive (personal and professional sense of nonaccomplishment), and Emotional (sense of overload and emotional exhaustion). Both flanks, either separately, or in conjunction, may lead to a battery of responses, including an expressed urge to quit the job or the profession. The model was empirically tested in a cross-sectional study, employing path analysis techniques.
TL;DR: The authors examined the long-term impact of a terrorist attack which involved the seizure of over a hundred hostages, most of them adolescents, in the small town of Ma'alot close to the northern border of Israel and Lebanon, and found that a traumatic experience at the developmental stage of adolescence leaves deep scars primarily on the emotional level.
Abstract: This study examined the long-term impact of a terrorist attack which involved the seizure of over a hundred hostages, most of them adolescents. The event took place in 1974, in the small town of Ma'alot close to the northern border of Israel and Lebanon. In order to ensure that the effects found among the survivors were due specifically to the traumatic experience, a control group was also included. The study was based on in-depth interviews and supplementary questionnaires administered to the survivors and to the control group seventeen years after the event. The findings reveal that a traumatic experience at the developmental stage of adolescence leaves deep scars primarily on the emotional level. It has affected the survivors' mental health and well-being, their interpersonal, social and vocational adjustment, as well as their emotional responses in emergency situations, such as the Gulf War.
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that a fitness-oriented exercise program has anxiolytic properties and provide a primary evidence that overt behavioral anxiety, as opposed to the usually measured self-reported anxiety, may be affected by exercise.
Abstract: The effects of a 12-week exercise-training program on cognitive, somatic, and behavioral anxiety and on heart rate responses to evaluative stress were scrutinized in 89 subjects randomly assigned to an experimental (exercise) or a control group. The training program consisted of exercises that were aimed to the improvement of the general physical fitness (i.e., strength, flexibility, and endurance). Following the 12-week training period, exercising subjects showed improved motor skill capacity as well as higher VO(2) max. In an anxiety inciting test situation, that consisted of the video-taped delivery of a 5-min speech, a mental arithmetic and a fine motor task, exercising subjects showed more favourable responses than control subjects in three ways: (a) they exhibited lower behavioral anxiety during the anticipation phase of the three stressors, (b) they reported lower cognitive and somatic anxiety during the anxiety provoking situation, and (c) their heart rate recovered faster, in contrast to both their baseline heart rate and the control subjects' heart rate, from the stress episode. These results demonstrate that a fitness-oriented exercise program has anxiolytic properties. They also provide a primary evidence that overt behavioral anxiety, as opposed to the usually measured self-reported anxiety, may be affected by exercise.
TL;DR: In this paper, a multivariate approach to the analysis of coping and adjustment to chronic illness using two different techniques was adopted, using the newly developed Vanderbilt Multidimensional Pain Coping Inventory (VMPCI) and regression analyses examined whether certain coping strategies interacted in their relations to adjustment when used together.
Abstract: The present study adopts a multivariate approach to the analysis of coping and adjustment to chronic illness using two different techniques. First, using the newly developed Vanderbilt Multidimensional Pain Coping Inventory (VMPCI; C. A. Smith et al., 1995), a cluster analysis indicated that a sample of 165 persons with rheumatoid arthritis could be classified into four groups, each characterized by a distinctive coping profile across the 11 coping strategies assessed by the VMPCI. After controlling for differences in arthritis-related pain, the four clusters differed reliably in psychological adjustment as assessed by measures of positive and negative affect, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Second, regression analyses examined whether certain coping strategies interacted in their relations to adjustment when used together. Evidence for several interactions was obtained, and these interactions tended to be outcome specific. These results suggest the adaptational significance of indivi...
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper found that gender role stress was the best predictor for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while professional type was a better predictor for personal accomplishment.
Abstract: Three hundred and seventy-four Chinese human service professionals were surveyed to examine the associations between burnout and gender role stress. Gender role stress refers to people's gender-based cognitive appraisal of specific situations that are role dystonic and stressful. Results showed that gender role stress was the best predictor for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while professional type was the best predictor for personal accomplishment. Masculine gender role stress was related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization for both male and female professionals, whereas feminine gender role stress was related to similar burnout dimensions for male professionals only. Gender role stress and burnout associations were found only in gender-typed professions of police officers and nurses, but not in a nongender-typed profession of secondary school teacher. Among the three groups, nurses experienced a higher level of gender role stress and lack of personal accomplishment than p...
TL;DR: In this paper, a study was carried out to examine in what respect pre-competitive state anxiety is different in top level and lower level gymnasts, showing that the top level group reported higher mean value of self-confidence, while no relation could be detected in the lower level group.
Abstract: Two existing groups of females gymnasts, Top level (N=20) and Lower level (N=50), were administered the Martens Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 and a reduced version of the Spielberger State-anxiety scale prior to a national competition. The study was carried out to examine in what respect pre-competitive state anxiety is different in top level and lower level gymnasts. The results displayed no differences in mean values of the included anxiety-oriented state measures. However, the top level group reported higher mean value of self- confidence. A most salient finding indicated a positive relationship between pre-competitive state anxiety and gymnastic performance in the top level group, while no relation could be detected in the lower level group. A path analysis within each group of gymnasts suggested that their pre-competitive state anxiety was differently composed in terms of the state parameters cognitive anxiety and self-confidence. The findings suggested the importance to focus on the...
TL;DR: In this paper, the relationship between verbal-cognitive and physiological measures of dental anxiety, coping styles, and personality traits among 53 undergraduate psychology students (aged 18-31 yrs).
Abstract: Studied the relationship between verbal-cognitive and physiological measures of dental anxiety, coping styles, and personality traits among 53 undergraduate psychology students (aged 18-31 yrs). Data were collected during 2 separate sessions. The 1st (stress) session involved continuous and simultaneous physiological measurements of systolic and diastolic BP, heart period, skin-conductance level, and saliva cortisol concentration. Ss then completed self assessment inventories of dental anxiety, coping behavior, and personality traits, immediately followed by a pre-announced dental check-up. During the second session, 1 mo later, only the physiological measures were made. Coping style was assessed by the Utrecht Coping List. The personality traits under investigation included neuroticism, extraversion, self-esteem, and general trait anxiety. Self-reported dental anxiety was associated with the coping behaviors "palliative responding" and "depressive reaction", and with neuroticism. No relations were found for either extraversion, self-esteem, or trait anxiety. Physiological activity associated with the oncoming dental check-up could be predicted by emotion-focused coping styles.
TL;DR: It is suggested that life stress and attributional style have important influecnes on cognitive processes, and that a learned helplessness attributional styles can have beneficial effects on behavior in some situations.
Abstract: Stressful life events and learned helplessness attributional styles have been shown to impact a variety of personal outcomes. This study examined how these factors influence two classes of cognitive behaviors: the occurrence of intrusive thoughts and performance in memory and verbal-spatial reasoning tasks. Negative life change and attributions for negative events predicted different types of cognitive responses. Individuals reporting higher levels of life stress were more likely to experience distracting thoughts that were unrelated to the current task, whereas individuals with learned helplessness attributional styles tended to have more worrisome thoughts about their task performance. In general, individuals reporting high levels of negative life stress tended to perform more poorly in tasks, whereas individuals with learned helplessness attributional styles tended to perform better than those who did not share this explanatory style. These results suggest that life stress and attributional style have important influecnes on cognitive processes, and that a learned helplessness attributional style can have beneficial effects on behavior in some situations.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a model for anxiety and performance: Measurement and modelling issues, including stress, anxiety, stress, and coping with self-anxiety and performance.
Abstract: (1996). Anxiety and performance: Measurement and modelling issues. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. v-viii.
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of cognitive, emotional and motivational parameters in a time-based performance process was examined for both major and general high school students in Shanghai (N=203).
Abstract: The present study was designed to examine the effect of cognitive, emotional and motivational parameters in a time-based performance process. Students of both sexes in major and general high school in Shanghai (N=203) were randomly assigned to a “neutral” and a stressful condition. A structural model was fitted in each experimental condition. A salient feature of the findings suggests that the constructs of the motive to avoid failure and state anxiety displayed both divergent and convergent functions. The findings were mainly discussed with respect to “uncertainty about the outcome” and “threat to self-esteem”. The present approach suggests a paradigm to explore how different theoretical positions of test anxiety may converge and diverge.
TL;DR: The transition from British to Chinese rule in 1997 is a unique example of a predictable stressful event that affects the community of Hong Kong in various ways as discussed by the authors, and the present paper describes the historical and political context preceding this transition characterized by high sociopolitical volatility, as suggested by some objective data and subjective data (e.g., opinion surveys).
Abstract: The transition from British to Chinese rule in 1997 is a unique example of a predictable stressful event that affects the community of Hong Kong in various ways. The present paper describes the historical and political context preceding this transition characterized by high sociopolitical volatility, as suggested by some objective data (e.g., emigration) and subjective data (e.g., opinion surveys). Psychometric items designed to assess threat/worry, challenge/self-efficacy, and benefit were administered to two groups, a large random sample of the ethnic Chinese Hong Kong population and a sample of Chinese university students. About half the random sample reported to be seriously concerned about the future after 1997, whereas in the student sample only about one fifth did so. Neither group expected advantages from the political transition. The students felt somewhat less challenged or less self-efficacious in dealing successfully with the upcoming event. In discussing these findings it is argued that first-year students might have other concerns shortly after being admitted to college as opposed to the average population, which might be more involved in sociopolitical matters.
TL;DR: It is suggested that gender and family income moderate the contribution of relative body weight to anxiety and anger, both central aspects of a 'disease-prone personality'.
Abstract: This study explored emotional correlates of relative body weight in a sample of 187 male and 269 female college students. The contribution of relative body weight, gender, family income and their interactions to variables related to anxiety and anger were evaluated by multiple regression procedures. Relative body weight was positively related to trait anxiety, especially among those with lower family incomes. Increased body weight was also related to trait anger and an anger-out expression style, but only among men. These results suggest that gender and family income moderate the contribution of relative body weight to anxiety and anger, both central aspects of a 'disease-prone personality'
TL;DR: In this article, a catastrophe model of the perception of successive bistable figures is proposed and a modelling study which utilized Fisher's perceptual task, together with Spielberger's Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) and Kuhl's Action Control Scale (ACS), indicated an interaction between emotionality and action orientation upon catastrophic perception.
Abstract: A catastrophe model of the perception of successive bistable figures is proposed. A modelling study which utilized Fisher's perceptual task, together with Spielberger's Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) and Kuhl's Action Control Scale (ACS), indicated an interaction between emotionality and action orientation upon “catastrophic” perception. Kuhl's theory of the functional meaning of emotions is considered as a possible explanation for the results.
TL;DR: Cognitive theories of anxiety, self-focussed attention and realism amongst test-anxious students revealed lower actual, anticipated and self-evaluated performance scores for high test- anxious students compared to their low test-Anxious counterparts.
Abstract: Twenty-four high test-anxious and 24 low test-anxious students completed two cognitive tasks under either high or low performance demand manipulations. Before each task subjects rated anxiety levels and performance expectations, with performance evaluations being conducted following completion of each task. Results revealed lower actual, anticipated and self-evaluated performance scores for high test-anxious students compared to their low test-anxious counterparts. Expected and self-evaluated performance ratings were then compared with actual performance. No difference was found between high and low test-anxious subjects in terms of the discrepancy between expected and actual performance. Both groups of students tended to be overoptimistic in their performance predictions. However, following the first cognitive task the test-anxious group demonstrated accurate self-evaluation, whereas the low test-anxious group were overoptimistic in their self-evaluation. This effect was not found for the second task, on which both groups were accurate in their performance-evaluation. The results are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of anxiety, self-focussed attention and realism amongst test-anxious students.