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Trait anxiety and Children's cognitive behaviors in an evaluative situation

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Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the cognitive behaviors of high and low trait-anxious children under stress. Six categories of cognitive behavior were inferred from a Think Aloud procedure that took place while 30 4th-grade children anticipated taking an important arithmetic test. The children's trait anxiety scores from Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children were found to be related to the extent to which the children responded to the stressful situation with the cognitive behaviors of preoccupation, justification of positive attitude, and derogation of other. These results parallel those found with adults and suggest that there is a continuity from at least elementary school years to adulthood in some of the cognitive behaviors exhibited by high and low trait-anxious individuals under stress. Only a longitudinal study, however, can fully assess this notion. The Think Aloud procedure for assessing children's cognitive behaviors was found to have considerable utility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Fraser Hall 426, 66045, Lawrence, Kansas, USA

    Judith E. Fox, B. Kent Houston & Mark S. Pittner

Authors
  1. Judith E. Fox
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  2. B. Kent Houston
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  3. Mark S. Pittner
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Additional information

The authors wish to thank Jeanne Marquis and Ray Zurawski for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript, and Verlin Gilbert, principal of Deerfield School, Lawrence, Kansas, for his generous assistance with this project.

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Fox, J.E., Houston, B.K. & Pittner, M.S. Trait anxiety and Children's cognitive behaviors in an evaluative situation. Cogn Ther Res 7, 149–154 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01190068

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