Investigation of the Causal Influence of Trait and State Anxiety Upon the Test Performance of Newly Incarcerated Adult Inmates

• NCJ Number: 70478
• Author(s): G R Worley
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 87 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Florida State University - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

The objective of this study was to determine if anxiety influenced test performance among newly incarcerated inmates.

Abstract

Secondary objectives included determining if measures of trait anxiety, state anxiety, and test performance were stable over time following incarceration and whether trait anxiety would influence state anxiety in turn influencing test performance. The subjects were 154 male inmates received by the Florida Department of Offender Rehabilitation. Data were obtained for anxiety trait, anxiety state, and test performance during 3 test periods on the first day, after 7 days, and after 21 days. Anxiety trait and anxiety state were assessed using the State-trait Anxiety Inventory; test performance was evaluated with a general achievement test. Results indicated that being newly incarcerated is an anxiety-inducing experience. State and trait anxiety levels were relatively high immediately after incarceration, but stabilized after a week, For newly incarcerated inmates, stress associated with being incarcerated produced about the same level of state anxiety as stress associated with taking a standardized test. The environmental stress of incarceration apparently influences the measurement of trait anxiety more than the effect of other environments in which the Inventory has been administered. Tables and figures, a bibliography about 100 references, and appendixes accompany the report.