Psychological Reporis, 1976, 38, 766.
@ Psychological Reports 1976
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND GUILT G. F. NIXON
AND
Children's Guidance Center, Methodist Home Waco, Texas
JOHN STEFFECK University of lllinois Medical School Chicago, Illinois
From a psychoanalytic point of view. anxiety is a major concept employed in conceptualizing the nature of psychopathology. Freud has specifically recognized three separate types of anxiety, one of which is moral anxiety. From a Freudian point of view, moral anxiety is thought of as fear of the conscience and is thought to be reflected in feelings of guilt (Hall & Lindzey. 1 9 7 0 ) . Although there has been much theorizing about the relationship between (moral) anxiety and guilt. there seems to be little data available concerning such a relationship. As part of a larger research project o n the response of medical students to a course on Human Sexuality the present study was designed to provide information relating rwo measures of anxiety and three measures of guilt. T h e State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielbcrger, Gorsuch. & Lushene, 1970) and the Mosher Guilt Scales (Moshec, 1966) were administered to the freshman medical student class at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Galveston-125 male students whose mean age was 22.6 yr. From the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory it was possible ro derive two measures of anxiety: State Anxiety ( M = 43.98, a = 4.47) and Trait Anxiety ( M = 42.56, a = 4.62). From the Mosher Guilt Scale three scores were obtained: Hostile Guilt ( M = 10.25, a = 16.80), Moral Conscience Guilt ( M = 1.53, a = 15.41), and Sex Guilt ( M = -25.53, a = 14.75). Pearson product-moment correlations were then obtained to determine the relationship between each of the measures of anxiety and the three measures of guilt. The correlations of State Anxiety to Hostile Guilt, Moral Conscience Guilt, and Sex Guilt were -0.069, 0.185 ( p = . 0 5 ) , and 0.339 ( p = .01) respectively. The correlations of Trait Anxiety scores and Hostile Guilt, Moral Conscience Guilt, and Sex Guilt were -0.003. 0.144, and 0.023 respectively. None of these correlations were judged significant. While most values are low and the medical smdent population has very low Sex Guilt scores in general, there may be some foundation for theorizing about the relationship of guilt and (moral) anxiety. As these data were collected at the start of a course in Human Sexuality, it is possible that the correlation of State Anxiety and Sex Guilt were artificially elevated. In addidon, the particuiar nature of the population, male medical students, may have contributed to some defensiveness on all rhe guilt scales. The findings raise the possibility of further assessment of the relation of guilt and anxiety. particularly with other populations since the medical school students may self-select particular personality types. REFERENCES
HALL.C. S., B LINDZEY, G. Theories of personality.
(2nd ed.) New Yock: Wiley, 1970. MOSHER, D. L. The development and multitrait-multimethod analysis of three measures of three aspects of guilt. Journal o f Consuking Psychology, 1966, 30, 25-29. SPIELBERGER,C. D., GORSUCH. R. L., & LUSHENE,R. E. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Test Manital for Form S. Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1970.
Accepted February 26, 1976.
@ Psychological Reports 1976
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND GUILT G. F. NIXON
AND
Children's Guidance Center, Methodist Home Waco, Texas
JOHN STEFFECK University of lllinois Medical School Chicago, Illinois
From a psychoanalytic point of view. anxiety is a major concept employed in conceptualizing the nature of psychopathology. Freud has specifically recognized three separate types of anxiety, one of which is moral anxiety. From a Freudian point of view, moral anxiety is thought of as fear of the conscience and is thought to be reflected in feelings of guilt (Hall & Lindzey. 1 9 7 0 ) . Although there has been much theorizing about the relationship between (moral) anxiety and guilt. there seems to be little data available concerning such a relationship. As part of a larger research project o n the response of medical students to a course on Human Sexuality the present study was designed to provide information relating rwo measures of anxiety and three measures of guilt. T h e State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielbcrger, Gorsuch. & Lushene, 1970) and the Mosher Guilt Scales (Moshec, 1966) were administered to the freshman medical student class at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Galveston-125 male students whose mean age was 22.6 yr. From the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory it was possible ro derive two measures of anxiety: State Anxiety ( M = 43.98, a = 4.47) and Trait Anxiety ( M = 42.56, a = 4.62). From the Mosher Guilt Scale three scores were obtained: Hostile Guilt ( M = 10.25, a = 16.80), Moral Conscience Guilt ( M = 1.53, a = 15.41), and Sex Guilt ( M = -25.53, a = 14.75). Pearson product-moment correlations were then obtained to determine the relationship between each of the measures of anxiety and the three measures of guilt. The correlations of State Anxiety to Hostile Guilt, Moral Conscience Guilt, and Sex Guilt were -0.069, 0.185 ( p = . 0 5 ) , and 0.339 ( p = .01) respectively. The correlations of Trait Anxiety scores and Hostile Guilt, Moral Conscience Guilt, and Sex Guilt were -0.003. 0.144, and 0.023 respectively. None of these correlations were judged significant. While most values are low and the medical smdent population has very low Sex Guilt scores in general, there may be some foundation for theorizing about the relationship of guilt and (moral) anxiety. As these data were collected at the start of a course in Human Sexuality, it is possible that the correlation of State Anxiety and Sex Guilt were artificially elevated. In addidon, the particuiar nature of the population, male medical students, may have contributed to some defensiveness on all rhe guilt scales. The findings raise the possibility of further assessment of the relation of guilt and anxiety. particularly with other populations since the medical school students may self-select particular personality types. REFERENCES
HALL.C. S., B LINDZEY, G. Theories of personality.
(2nd ed.) New Yock: Wiley, 1970. MOSHER, D. L. The development and multitrait-multimethod analysis of three measures of three aspects of guilt. Journal o f Consuking Psychology, 1966, 30, 25-29. SPIELBERGER,C. D., GORSUCH. R. L., & LUSHENE,R. E. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Test Manital for Form S. Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1970.
Accepted February 26, 1976.
