Manual

For
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

Constructed and Standardized By

Dr. Roma Pal and [Link] Tiwari

Published By :
Agra Psychological Research Cell
Tiwari Kothi, Belanganj, Agra-282 004
 (2 )
Manual
for

State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

The difficulties of adjustment of the stross and strain of
contemporary living, have been bemoaned and deplored by every

generation since long before christian era", said psychiatrist Karl

Menninger. The price for lamentation, however goes to the present
articlate age of anxiety. Its problems are proclaimed daily, in the
living colourand in a best-selling literature of turmoil, alienation
and despair. Sometimes the stress of modern life seem too much to
bear. As a consequence, the modern youth groors bindly around
myrid of superstition and so called social prograrns seeking an
answer that would satisfy his moral aesthetic, spiritual and
economic well being. But unfortunately the modern youth is in
perpetual state of anxiety, unhappiness and be wilderment
because he is not able to achieve a well-balanced placement in his
present circumstances and situations. The newspapers are evidènt
enough that racial discrimination and prejudices have been
harming both home and community.
Psychologically, anxiety is a important phenomena.
very
Froud was the first to define anxiety within the context of

psychological theory. According to him, "Anxiety is as something

felt, an unpleasant effect of state or condition." This state is
characterised by all that is covered by the word nervous
apprehension or anxious expect-station and efferent discharge
phenomena.

Spielberger (1960) defined anxiety as a State of arousel

caused by threat to well-being. Here "State' refers to the condition
involving the entire organism and 'Arouusal' refers to a condition
of tension, unrest or uneasiness or a readiness to act in response
whereby Threat' refers to anticipation of pain or danger or serious
interference with gnal seeking activities.

No doubt, anxiety oceupies a very important place in the

Study of human personality and a multitute of activities of mind.

It has been found that cireumstances in which failure is

experienced or in which an individuals intelligence is evaluated,
 4 )
was given to fire psychologists and five psychiatrists to examine ano

the accuracy theitems and as well add atlest two items for each.
of Tes

Afer getting the experts response and the [Link] items, it was Tra
tested on more than 600 college students and only those items 68
were included in the present test having highest frequeney and 7
accuracy. The present test consists of 30 items each in State as
well Trait form.
ca
Administration :
e
It is a self administering test which can be given either
individually or in a group. There is no time limit to complete the
test but usually its completion takes 15-20 minutes. The testee
should have a clear cut understanding of the 'State'instructions a

which needs his responses as to how he feels at this moment and a

the Trait' instruction which needs his responses as to how he t
generally [Link] the standard instructions are printed on
the first page but before starting this test, the tester should
enquire whether the testee has followed the instructions or not. It
is aswell advised that the State Test may be first given to the
testeeand then the Trait Test.
Instructions :For State Anxiety :
"A number of statements are given on the next page. Read
each statement carefully and tick ()
mark to the response which
suits you very much to indicate how you feel right now i.e. at this
[Link] of the responses are right or wrong. Try to respond
toall the statements at the earliest."
Por Trait Anxiety :
"A number of statements aré given on the next page. Read
each statement carefully and tick ()
mark to the response which
suits you very much to indicate how you generally feel. None of the
responses are right or wrong. Try to respond to all the statements
at the earliest."

Reliability :

For getting the reliability of the text, the present test was
administered to a group of 400 students (200 males and 200
Temale) who were studing in High School. Intermediate, Graduate
 (3 )

are particularly threatening to the individual resulting in high

Trait Anxiety (Spielberger and Smity; 1966) Generally it is
asumed that individuals who are high in Trait anxiety will exhibit
state elevationsmore frequently than those with [Link] anxiety
since they react to a wider range of situations as dangerous or
threatening. Actually the state anxiety is a transitory emotional
state or condition characterized by subjective, consciously
perceived feeling of tension and apprehension and heightened
autonomic nervous system activity. State anxiety may varry in
intensity and fluctuate over time. Where by Trait anxiety refers to
relatively stable individual between people in the
differences
tendency to respond to the situations that are perceived as
threatening with elevations. It refers to the 'acquired behavioral
dispositions" of Campbell (1963) and invlives residues of past
experience that predispose an individual both to view the world in
a articular way. and to manifest response
'Object-consistent'

tendencies. Trait anxiety indicates differences in the strength of a

latent disposition to mainifest a certain type of reaction whereby
State anxiety an empirical process or reaction taking place at a
is

particular moment in time and at a given level of intensity.

The conception of Trait and State anxiety are considered in
greater detail by Spielberger (1966). Althrough a number of

studies have been conducted in this area to study both the aspects
of anxiety in the past in West but none in India. The anxiety test
in India, measure only one of the aspects or even none. The

present test is an attempt in this direction.

Construction and Standardization of the Test :

For the construction of the present test, the items were
collected from the STAS constructed by spielberger, Gorsuch
and
Lushene (1970), rewritten in a manner that would permit each
State and Trait anxiety.
item to be used as a measure of both i.e.,
that items with a
While selecting the items, it was assumed
of anxiety would be
demonstrated relationship to other measures
embodying content of
most useful here. Hence a number of items
most widely used anxiety scales were
proven relationship to the as a
permit each item to be used
written in a manner that would
In the preliminary form of the
measure of State or Trait anxiety. which
each for State and Trait anxiety
test there were 15 items
 (6 )

a valid tool Table:1

The above table clearly shows that present test is8

for the measurement of state-trait anxiety.

For the concurrent of the present inventory, the

validity

present Hindi version, Sinha and Sinha's comprehensive Item

Anxiety Scale and Srivastava and Tiwari's Anxiety scale were
administered to 100 College students (50 males and 50 1.

females). 2.
3
The correlation coefficients are given in following 4
Table : 5.
6.
College Males College Females
Anxiety Scales 7.
(N= 50) (STA) (N= 50) (STA)
8
1. Sinha and Sinha's 73 -70 9
Comprehensive 10.
Anxiety Scale. 11.
2. Srivastava and 78 75
12.
Tiwari's Anxiety
Scale. 13.
14.

For getting the construct validity of the present inventory, the 15

present scale was to 200 college students 16
administered

Males and Females in equal number thicaly : (both

1
1. First--The state Anxiety inventory was administered to
1
the students with the standard instruction (Normal Condition).
2
2. SecondThe StateAnxiety inventory was administered to
the students after providing 15 minute period of relaxation. (Relax
Condition).

3. ThirdThe state Anxiety inventory was again

administered to same sample asking them to respond according to
how they believed they would feel Jst prior to the final
examination in an important course' ([Link]).

The means scores state anxiety and for individual items were
caleulated under Normal Relax and Exam. Conditions which are

given in Table.
 (5 )
a time lapse of one
week and
and Post Graduate classes within
as well
caleulated seperately for state
Test retest reliability was
for state was found to be,
Trait anxiety. The test retest
reliability

for Trait scale was 76 with

68 whereby the test retest reliability

-73 for the total scale.

consistency of the scale was checked by

The interrnal
between total scores on
calculating the coefficient of correlations
to be 63 for state items and
each of the sub-Scales and was found
-76 for Trait items and72 for total scale.
by
was measured for its split half reliability
The scale
male
of 200 college students including
administering upon a group
and it was found to be71 for
state
and female aged 19-22 years
for Trait. test and 76 for the total
test.
test,78

Validity:
present test were
As pointed out earlier the items of the
tests available in this area and
collected from the standerdised
Furthermore only those items
gain checked by the experts rating.
and accuracy (through
were selected who have highest frequency
college students). This shows
che administration of the test on 600
content validity.
that the present test passess high

validity of the present test, the English

For concurrent
Trait Inventory, Cattell and Scieries
version of State Anxiety and
Taylor (1953) Manifest Anxiety
(1963) IPAT Anxiety Scale and
(100
toa sample of 200 College Students
Scale were administered
are given in
Males and 100 Females) the correlation-Coefficients
following table :
the Stait-Trait Anxiety
Table : Correlations Between
(ST), IPAT and TMAS.
Males College Females
College
(N= 100) (STA)
Anxiety Scales (N= 100) (STA)
-73
.75
IPAT -83
-81
TAMS
 (7
tool Table :The Construct Validity of the State Anxiety Scale :
Males (N= 100) Females (N 100)=
the
(Means) (Means)
ive
Item Norm Relax Exam. Norm Relax Exam.
ere
50 1 1·80 1·50 2-90 2-00 1-30 3-10
2 2-00 1-80 310 1-90 1·50 2-60
3 1·60 1-50 2-660 1-60 1·40 2-00
g 4 1·40 1-50 1-90 1-04 1-02 2-00
5 1-90 1·40 2-10 1-80 1·50 2-60
6. 1-30 1-20 3-00 2-00 1-70 3-30
7. 2-10 2-70 2-30 2-20 1-80 3-40
2-60 1-80 2-70 2-10 2 3-50
9 2-10 1-60 2-80 1-80 1-60 2-90
10. 2-20 1·90 3-00 2-20 1-90 3-10
11. 2-00 1-80 2-60 2-40 1-70 2-80
12. 1-70 1-60 2-70 1-70 1-50 3-00
13. 1·50 1-30 1-90 1·40 1-20 2-00
14. 1-70 1·50 2-70 1-50 1-40 2-80
15. 1·40 1-20 1-50 1·30 1·10 1-90
16. 2-20 2-00 3-00 1-90 1-80 2-70
2-50 2-10 3-20 2-10 1-90 3-10
17.
1-70 1-80 1·70 1·60 1·40 2-20
18.
2-00 170 2-90 2-00 1-60 3-00
19.
1-30 1-10 2-00 1-20 1-20 2-10
20.
2-20 3-60 2-60 2-00 3-20
21. 2-80
2-00 3-10 2-20 1-90 3-00
22. 2-40
1·60 1·10 1-00 2-80
23. 1-20 1-20
2-30 3-40 2-70 2-20 3-00
24. 2-90
2-40 2-00 2-90
25. 2-50 2-10 2-80
2-60 1-80 1-90 2-50
26. 1-90 1·90
3-00 2-00 1-90 310
27 2-10 2-00
2-30 2-40 3-00
28. 1-90 2-90
2-40
1-90 1-80 2-00
29 1-70 1-90
1-80 2-50
2-20 2-50 2-10
30. 2-40 2-10
35-50 30-40 41-00
35-00 50-00
Scale 40- 00
 males and females have
The Table clearly shows that both the in
anxiety in normal condition
losser magnitude of state both
exan. In the relax condition
comparison to the conditions of to
anxiety in comparison
males and females have lowest trait
'normal' as well as 'exam'conditions.
scores for state Anxiety
Scoring: The possible range of the
30(minimum) to 90 (maximum).
and Trait Anxiety varies from
of the both scales by ratings
The subjects respond to each item instructions (printed on the
themselvesaccording to the standard 2.
a three point scales : 1. Always,
front page of the scale) on
state and Trait scales equal
Some-times,3. Never for the blancing
ratings indicate high
numbers of items have been taken. Highanxiety for the positive
indicate low
anxiety whereas low rating
scores of responses will be
items of the each scale, the weightage items will be
marked 3,2 and 1 respectively whereas reversed
and negatives items of the state
marked, 1, 2 and 3. The positive
below :
Anxiety and Trait Anxiety are given
1. State Anxiety
KPositiveItems :1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 24,

25,26, 27, 28, 29, 30 (Scoring should be

3, 2, 1).
13, 14, 17, 18, 21, 23 (Scoring
eNegative Items :3,8, 9, 12,
should be 1, 2, 3).

2. Trait Anxiety :
Positive Items : 1, 2,3, B 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14,be15,
27,28,29, 30 (Scoring should
23,
3, 2,
26,

1).

Negative Items :
4, 5,9, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,22,
(Scoring 2, 3).
should be 1,
24, 25,