title: Anxiety reactivity and anxiety perseveration represent dissociable dimensions of trait anxiety.
abstract: Trait anxiety is an individual-difference variable reflecting variation in state-anxiety elevations resulting from exposure to a stressor. It is usually measured using questionnaire instruments, such as the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T). The present research conceptually distinguishes, and independently assesses, two hypothetical dimensions of anxiety vulnerability which, it is argued, could plausibly make independent contributions to variance in trait-anxiety scores. These dimensions are anxiety reactivity, the probability of experiencing an anxiety reaction to a stressor, and anxiety perseveration, the persistence of anxiety symptoms once elicited. Participants were asked three questions about each STAI-T item. The traditional STAI-T question assessed how much of the time this symptom was experienced; the anxiety-reactivity question assessed the probability of experiencing the symptom in response to a stressor; and the anxiety-perseveration question assessed how long the symptom persisted, if elicited. Regression analysis determined that anxiety reactivity and anxiety perseveration scores both accounted for independent variance in trait-anxiety scores. It is argued that models of anxiety vulnerability should seek to differentiate both the causes and the consequences of elevated anxiety reactivity and increased anxiety perseveration.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. daniel.rudaizky@uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rudaizky
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Page
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: MacLeod
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires