Relationship between affect structure and multidimensional anxiety

Fuček, Ita. (2007). Relationship between affect structure and multidimensional anxiety. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Psychology. [mentor Knezović, Zvonimir].

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Abstract

The theory of unipolar structure of affect suggests that positive and negative affect (PA and NA) are normally independent of one another - this notion makes the structure of affect unipolar (Watson, 1985; in Watson, 2000). In some cases research has shown that it is possible that the change in structure of affect involves certain psychological factors - in individuals with anxiety as well as in individuals who are under stress a shift of affect structure has been noticed to a more bipolar one. The explanation for these results lies in narrowed cognitive attention and heightened apprehensiveness anxious persons display. This research has tested the possibility of shifts in affect structure, form unipolar to bipolar, in individuals who achieve higher scores on trait anxiety scales. In this research, anxiety is viewed as a multidimensional construct, in concordance with the theory suggested by Endler et al. (1989). A sample of 286 highschool graduates completed the PANAS for PA and NA and EMAS-T for trait anxiety. The results have shown that the change in affect structure, from unipolar to bipolar, occurs but not as predicted - the shift in affect structure, from unipolar to bipolar, took place in participants with an average anxiety score while participants with high and low scores showed a more unipolar structure of affect.

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