Facilitating and debilitating trait anxiety, situational anxiety, and coping with an anticipated stressor: a process analysis.
Participants completed anxiety and coping diaries during 10 periods that began 7 days before an academic stressor and continued through the evening after the stressor. Profile analysis was used to examine the anxiety and coping processes in relation to 2 trait anxiety grouping variables: debilitating and facilitating test anxiety (D-TA and F-TA). Anxiety and coping changed over time, and high and low levels of D-TA and F-TA were associated with different daily patterns of anxiety and coping. Participants with a debilitative, as opposed to facilitative, trait anxiety style had lower examination scores, higher anxiety, and less problem-solving coping. Covarying F-TA, high D-TA was associated with a pattern of higher levels of tension, worry, distraction, and avoidant coping, as well as lower levels of proactive coping. Covarying D-TA, high F-TA was associated with higher levels of tension (but not worry or distraction), support seeking, proactive and problem-solving coping.
Raffety
B D
BD
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-1525, USA. raffety@u.washington.edu
Smith
R E
RE
Ptacek
J T
JT
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011340:Problem Solving; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*