M.A. (Industrial Psychology) / In reviewing current literature on the evaluation of people, it is clear that the effect of test anxiety accompanying the evaluation process may be detrimental to the individual's performance. In fact, this under achievement of apprentices doing trade tests have significant financial implications for both the individual and the organization concerned. Accordingly, to counteract this adverse effect, it has been recommended that the technique "Stress Inoculation Training" (SIT) be implemented - the end result being an improvement in the individuals' performance. Theoretical persepectives and alternative conceptual understandings of test anxiety are reviewed. In this respect an important development in the field of test anxiety treatment is research dealing with the reinforcement of the individual's ability to cope with stressful and problematic situations, for when test anxiety is reduced the person experiences a corresponding increase in self-efficacy. Self-efficacy plays an important role in a person's belief that he or she can perform to achieve a desired result. In addition, a high degree of self-efficacy has a strong motivational effect. It is suggested therefore, that learning experiences be so designed as to improve self-efficacy, perseverance and performance. This performance can be achieved by the skills taught in SIT. It is also stressed that SIT is a comprehensive approach for the control of stress-related problems.

Introduction: This study was designed to validate the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorder-Revised (SCARED-R) for use in the local context. Furthermore, different components of anxiety-related attentional bias were studied with emotional spatial cueing task (ESCT). This study also attempted to investigate the relationship among attentional bias, temperamental traits of Negative Affectivity (NA) and Effortful Control (EC), and anxiety. Method: Subjects were recruited from P.4 to F.3 students of mainstream Chinese speaking schools. The SCARED-R and self-report measures of NA and EC were administered. 508 child/adolescent subjects (mean age=11.7 years, SD=1.80; 327 boys and 181 girls) and 312 of their parents (child’s mean age=11.50; SD=1.77; 196 boys and 116 girls) were included in the analysis. In Stage 2 of the study, subjects were recruited from those with SCARED-R scores at 85th percentile or above and 50th percentile or below. 34 pairs of child/adolescent and parent subjects (mean age=11.89 years; SD=1.90) were assessed with the Chinese version of the Diagnostic Interview for Children-Version 4, with which the Anxiety group (n=14) and Control group (n=20) were identified. All subjects completed the SCARED-R and Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS). The child/adolescent subjects did ESCT, which presented Angry, happy and neutral faces for 17 ms, 500 ms and 1250 ms. Results: The mean total SCARED-R scores were 31.94 (SD=19.51) and 22.96 (SD=15.35) for child/adolescent and parent subjects. Internal consistencies (Cronbach’s α=.95 and .94) and one-month test-retest reliability (Spearman’s rho=.72 and .79, both at p<.001) for child and parent total SCARED-R scores were satisfactory. Total SCARED-R scores correlated significantly with total SCAS scores, and were significantly different between the Anxiety and Control groups. These provided support for SCARED-R’s convergent validity. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that SCARED-R was multi-dimensional. Facilitated attentional bias and disengagement difficulties were not related as predicted. Angry cues induced greater disengagement difficulties than happy cues. Compared with Control group, Anxiety group showed greater disengagement difficulties when Angry cues were presented at cue duration of 1250 ms. A direct and significant relationship existed between anxiety with NA, and between anxiety and EC. NA and EC played their own unique roles in affecting anxiety but the variance accounted by EC in addition to NA was small. EC did not moderate the relationship between NA and anxiety, though a very small mediating effect between NA and anxiety was noted. Conclusion: This study provides support for the satisfactory psychometric properties of the SCARED-R for local use, showing its good potential of being used as a screening instrument for anxiety disorders. Despite the small sample size, anxious children/adolescents were found to have disengagement difficulties from threat cue at cue duration of 1250 ms, and this could be a parameter to consider in future design of attentional bias modification training. The major limitation of this study is its convenience sampling of subjects from community and the low participation/consent rate. This limits generalizability of the results, impedes an investigation of the sensitivity and specificity of the scale, and poses great constraints on statistical power. / published_or_final_version / Psychiatry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between drive level, defined in terms of scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, and performance in a complex paired-associate learning task, in which an attempt was made to control the number and strength of the competing responses.

A substantial literature indicates that children and adolescents living with a depressed caregiver are at increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems. Although parental depression has been shown to have non-specific associations across child problems, researchers have begun to examine whether specific risk factors, such as parental depression, are associated with specific child outcomes, such as child anxiety. Parenting behavior has been identified as one potential mechanism for the transmission of depression and other psychopathology from parent to child. The extant literature supports this mechanism, as the parenting behaviors of mothers with and without a history of depression have been found to differ in important ways. Moreover, two separate literatures suggest that the same parenting behaviors are associated with both parental depression and child anxiety. The current study was designed to extend past research in the areas of parental depression, parenting, and child anxiety by examining parenting behavior as an explanatory mechanism for the association of parental depressive symptoms and child anxiety symptoms. Using a sample of parents with a history of depression and their 9- to 15-year old children, the current study examined four specific parenting behaviors (i.e., hostility, intrusiveness, withdrawal, and warmth), observed in the context of a stressful parent-child interaction task, as mediators of the association between parental depressive symptoms and both parent and child reports of child anxiety symptoms. Limited support was found for the meditational role of specific parenting behaviors in the association of parental depressive symptoms and child anxiety symptoms. Linear mixed-model analyses revealed an inverse and likely spurious relation between parental depressive symptoms and parent report of child anxiety symptoms. A significant positive association also emerged between parental depressive symptoms and observed parental withdrawal. No support was found for the other relations of the proposed mediation model. Possible reasons for the lack of significant findings are discussed.

No description available.