This study is exploratory in nature and focuses on the relation between the individual and macrosystems by investigating the link between African Americans’ fear of confirming stereotypes and their experience with symptoms and treatments for social anxiety. This study hypothesizes that 1) among a sample of African Americans diagnosed with social anxiety, there will be a significant, positive relationship between African-Americans’ self-reported concerns over confirming stereotypes relevant to both social anxiety and their own self-reported levels of social anxiety, 2) significantly more African Americans will drop-out of therapy than Caucasians, 3) amongst African Americans, significantly more will drop out of group therapy than individual therapy, 4) the racial composition of the group will matter, such that more African Americans will drop out of groups where they are the only African American participant, compared to if there are other African Americans in the group, and 5) the presence of an African American co-therapist will impact attrition from group treatment, with higher attrition rates in groups without an African American co-therapist, compared to if there is one. Thirty-four participants, 23 females and 11 males, who self-identified as African Americans and forty-four participants, 23 females and 21 males, who self-identified as Caucasian took part in this study. Results did not show a relation between stereotype confirmation concern and social anxiety. Regarding attrition, results showed that significantly more African Americans dropped out of therapy than Caucasians. Additionally, more African Americans dropped out of group therapy than individual therapy. There was no impact of therapist ethnicity or the presence of other African Americans on attrition rates, though these tests were underpowered.

Though the field of psychology is moving forward in its awareness of the importance of studying and addressing cultural issues, there is still a dearth of literature on the subject, especially in the area of anxiety (Heurtin-Roberts, Snowden, & Miller, 1997). The current study tested the following hypotheses 1) African-Americans’ self-reported concerns over confirming stereotypes would be related to their own self-reported levels of social anxiety. 2) There would be a negative relationship between how negatively African-Americans think others view African-Americans in general, and levels of social anxiety; 3) The relationship between public regard, concern over confirming stereotypes, and levels of anxiety would be partially mediated by beliefs about the probability and consequences of a negative outcome from their speech for group members. Results showed that the relation between public regard and fear of negative evaluations was fully mediated by the consequences of a negative outcome for group members.

This exploratory study examined the relationship between public speaking anxiety levels indicated by scores on the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker questionnaire (PRCS: Paul, 1966) and evaluation probability on a wide domain of evaluation items reflected by scores on the Audience Attention Allocation questionnaire (devised for the purpose of this study). A large student sample (n=220) completed the PRCS as well as the AAA questionnaire. The AAA assessed the perceived allocation of the attentional resources of the audience members during a speech by asking respondents to rate how probable it is that a speaker is evaluated on a set of domains. The results of regression analyses indicated that AAA scores, Gender, and Study year were significant predictors of PRCS scores accounting for 8.5% of the variance. More interestingly, the nature of results obtained was contrary to the hypothesis of the study. It was in fact revealed that subjects scoring low on the AAA questionnaire, indicating less likelihood that audience members make evaluations about the speaker on a variety of items, tended to have higher anxiety scores. The results are discussed in terms of defense mechanisms and response bias.

<p>This exploratory study examined the relationship between public speaking anxiety levels indicated by scores on the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker questionnaire (PRCS: Paul, 1966) and evaluation probability on a wide domain of evaluation items reflected by scores on the Audience Attention Allocation questionnaire (devised for the purpose of this study). A large student sample (n=220) completed the PRCS as well as the AAA questionnaire. The AAA assessed the perceived allocation of the attentional resources of the audience members during a speech by asking respondents to rate how probable it is that a speaker is evaluated on a set of domains. The results of regression analyses indicated that AAA scores, Gender, and Study year were significant predictors of PRCS scores accounting for 8.5% of the variance. More interestingly, the nature of results obtained was contrary to the hypothesis of the study. It was in fact revealed that subjects scoring low on the AAA questionnaire, indicating less likelihood that audience members make evaluations about the speaker on a variety of items, tended to have higher anxiety scores. The results are discussed in terms of defense mechanisms and response bias.</p>

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-273).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-273).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1999. / Title from electronic submission form. Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1950. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: 367-374.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:59:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2717397 bytes, checksum: 9b595c87b494e8dd776ae15a3beac7f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Anxiety is an adaptive response of organism to situations that life presents, and driving performance with personal and psychological as well as physiological components. It is considered pathological when it causes suffering to the individual, bringing him damage in terms of injury avoidance behaviors and avoidance important situations in his academic, social and professional life. The pathological manifestations of anxiety are grouped as Anxiety Disorders. Several pharmacological classes are used to treat this group of disorders, especially benzodiazepines and antidepressants. However, the pattern of adverse reactions, the possibility of tolerance and dependence as well as abuse potential of benzodiazepines, added to slow response of antidepressant treatment, justify the search for new therapeutic possibilities. Preclinical studies have attested the anxiety-relieving activity of the roots extract of Panax ginseng C. A Meyer. Its ethnopharmacological use for anxiety is evident worldwide. The aim of this study was to test the therapeutic efficacy of the extract of the roots of P. ginseng in the acute treatment of experimentally induced anxiety in healthy volunteers and identify adverse effects caused by its use. The study population consisted of university students, aged between 18 and 30 years. We selected 60 healthy volunteers who met the study inclusion criteria. We developed a clinical double-blind, randomized, controlled, acute essay. The substances used were: P. ginseng (200 mg), diazepam (10 mg) and placebo. Anxiety was experimentally elicited through Simulation Test of Public Speaking, and evaluated through the use of physiological measures (blood pressure, heart pulse rate, ends temperature and skin electrical conductance) and psychometric scales (trait-state anxiety inventory and analog mood scale). The results were analyzed using several statistical, parametric and nonparametric methods. They showed that the extract of the roots of P. ginseng intensifies anxiety, especially during performance test and has a minor ability to reduce it in the final phase, with greater significance demonstrated through psychological measures. Although well tolerated, P. ginseng has not demonstrated effectiveness in controlling anxiety and subjective signs and symptoms associated with it. / A ansiedade é uma resposta adaptativa do organismo às situações que a vida apresenta, sendo propulsora do desempenho pessoal e com componentes psicológicos e fisiológicos. É considerada patológica quando provoca sofrimento ao indivíduo, trazendo-lhe prejuízo em função dos comportamentos de fuga e esquiva de situações importantes da vida acadêmica, social e profissional. As manifestações da ansiedade patológica são agrupadas nos transtornos de Ansiedade. Várias classes farmacológicas são utilizadas no tratamento deste grupo de transtorno, destacando-se os benzodiazepínicos e antidepressivos. Entretanto, o padrão de reações adversas, a possibilidade de dependência e tolerância e o potencial de abuso dos benzodiazepínicos, adicionado a lenta resposta terapêutica dos antidepressivos, justificam a busca de novas possibilidades terapêuticas. Estudos pré-clínicos atestaram a atividade ansiolítica do extrato das raízes do Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer. Seu uso etnofarmacológico para ansiedade é evidenciado em todo mundo. O objetivo deste estudo foi testar a eficácia terapêutica do extrato das raízes do P. ginseng no tratamento agudo da ansiedade induzida de maneira experimental em voluntários saudáveis e identificar os efeitos adversos provocados pelo seu uso. A população do estudo foi constituída por estudantes universitários, com idade entre 18 e 30 anos. Foram selecionados 60 voluntários saudáveis, que atenderam aos critérios de inclusão do estudo. Foi desenvolvido um ensaio clínico duplo-cego, randômico, controlado e agudo. As substâncias utilizadas foram: P. ginseng (200 mg), Diazepam (10 mg) e Placebo. A ansiedade foi produzida de modo experimental, através do Teste de Simulação de Falar em Público e avaliada mediante o uso de medidas fisiológicas (pressão arterial, frequência cardíaca, temperatura de extremidades e condutância elétrica da pele) e escalas psicométricas (Inventário de ansiedade traço-estado e escala analógica do humor). Os resultados foram analisados utilizando vários métodos estatísticos paramétricos e não-paramétricos. Eles demonstraram que o extrato das raízes de P. ginseng intensifica a ansiedade, principalmente na fase de performance do Teste e apresenta menor capacidade de reduzi-lá na fase final, demonstrado com maior significância através das medidas psicológicas. Embora bem tolerado, P. ginseng não demonstrou eficácia no controle subjetivo da ansiedade e de alguns sinais e sintomas a ela associados.

Although public speaking anxiety is one of the most commonly reported causes of both clinical and non-clinical anxiety, many of the currently used questionnaire measures of public speaking anxiety do not reflect the advances made in recent decades regarding empirical methods of test construction, including item generation and determination of subscale composition. The current study administered 35 empirically-generated cognitive self-statement items related to speaking anxiety to a sample of 367 undergraduate students along with measures of public speaking anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, generalized social anxiety behaviors, and self-consciousness tendencies. Using exploratory factor analysis and item-total correlations, participant responses to the 35 self-statement items were examined, producing the 30-item Speaking Cognitions and Attention Scale (SCAS). Data indicated that in the current sample the SCAS displayed a three-factor solution, with factors composed of items reflecting positive self-statements, negative self-statements, and catastrophic self-statements. The scale also demonstrated excellent internal reliability, with alphas in the range of .90 to .97. Discriminant validity analyses supported the specificity of the measure in measuring public speaking anxiety by correlating highly with another measure of speaking anxiety, at a moderate level with measures of general social anxiety, and at a small level with a measure of self-consciousness with no theoretical relationship to speaking anxiety. Results are discussed with respect to implications of the current findings for questionnaire measurement of public speaking anxiety, needed future directions in further validation of the measure, and potential applications for treatment of public speaking anxiety.