Effects of Defensiveness on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

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Abstract
105 Naval Aviation Officer Cadets and 105 male university seniors were administered on one occasion the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Barron Ego Strength Scale, and the MMPI K Scale as measures of psychological defensiveness. It was expected that the cadets who were in a highly stressful environment would score higher on state anxiety and psychological defensiveness. In contrast to the impressive accumulation of research showing that the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory can discriminate between state and trait anxiety in a contrived situation, in this study the inventory did not differentiate between the two dimensions when tested in vivo. Moreover, increased defensiveness related negatively with reported anxiety levels. It was suggested that the authors of the inventory include a “correction” factor (measure of defensiveness) to attenuate the inventory's vulnerability to distortion by defensive subjects.