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Anxity and actualization: A reconceptualization
Author(s) -
Wilkins William E.,
Hjelle Larry A.,
Thompson Michael
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(197710)33:4<1001::aid-jclp2270330415>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - neuroticism , psychology , anxiety , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , scale (ratio) , social psychology , personality , psychiatry , physics , quantum mechanics
In line with Dabrowki's theory of Positive Disintegration, deGrace recently reported no significant difference in terms of anxiety level between groups of actualized and nonactualized S s. Several methodological and theoretical flaws noted in the deGrace study led the present authors to hypothesize that actualized S s would score significantly lower than nonactualized S s on separate but conceptually related measures of manifest or neurotic anxity. S s (83 females and 42 males) were administered the Personal Orientation Inventory, the IPAT Anxiety Scale, and the Taylor Mauifest Anxiety Scale. The results, which substantiate the hypothesis that levels of actualization and anxiety are correlated negatively, are discussed in relation to the conceptual distinction between debilitating and facilitating anxiety and their respective effects on psychological growth.