Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T19:28:38.699Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The relationship between psychological and physiological measures of anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Gary R. Morrow  and
Anthony H. Labrum
Gary R. Morrow*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, USA
Anthony H. Labrum
Affiliation:
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Gary R. Morrow, Medical Psychiatric Liaison Group, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, 300 Crittenden Blvd, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The responses of 6 representative physiological parameters frequently assumed to be measures of anxiety along with a set of 4 psychological tests for measuring anxiety were obtained under naturalistic conditions from 25 patients hospitalized with a first myocardial infarction. A canonical correlational analysis failed to show any relationship between anxiety as assessed by the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, Mood Adjective Check List, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Multiple Affect Adjective Check List psychological tests, and anxiety as assessed by the physiological indices of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, epinephrine, norepinephrine and VMA. The intercorrelation matrix revealed a significant positive pattern of relationships among all 4 psychological tests, a non-significant, positive pattern of relationships among the physiological indices, and a non-significant, negative pattern of relationships between the psychological and physiological measures. The absence of mood-specific physiological measures for anxiety, as measured by the psychological tests, supports previous theory and investigation and points to the inadvisability of assuming that studies on anxiety that use diverse physiological and psychological measures yield results that may be compared as though they were assessing a common mood.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 1978 , pp. 95 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allport, F. H. (1924). Social Psychology. Houghton-Mifflin: Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Barker, R. G. (1969). Wanted: an eco-behavioral science. In Naturalistic Viewpoints in Psychological Research (ed. Willems, E. P. and Raush, H. L.), pp. 31–42. Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York.Google Scholar
Bartlett, M. S. (1948). Internal and external factor analysis. British Journal of Psychology (Statistics Section) 1, 73–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartorelli, C., Bizzi, E., Libretti, A. & Zanchetti, A. (1960). Inhibitory control of sinocarotid pressor receptive afferents on hypothalamic autonomic activity and sham rage. Archives of Italian Biology 48, 308–326.Google Scholar
Bendig, A. W. (1956). The development of a short form of the manifest anxiety scale. Journal of Consulting Psychology 20, 384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, A. J., James, D. C. & Lader, M. H. (1974). Physiological and psychological measures in anxious patients. Psychological Medicine 4, 364–373.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannon, W. (1953). Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage (2nd edn). Charles T. Branford: Boston.Google Scholar
Cattell, R. B. (1972). The nature and genesis of mood states. In Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research (ed. Spielberger, C. D.), pp. 115–183. Academic Press: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooley, W. W. & Lohnes, P. R. (1971). Multivariate Data Analysis. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Crout, J. R. (1961). Catecholamines in urine. Standard Method of Clinical Chemistry 3, 62–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deane, G. E. & Zeaman, D. (1958). Human heart rate during anxiety. Perceptual and Motor Skills 8, 103–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Euler, V. S. & Lundberg, U. (1954). Effect of flying on the epinephrine excretion in Air Force personnel. Journal of Applied Psychology 6, 551.Google Scholar
Foster, K. & Humphries, S. (1951). Translation of Aristotle's De Anima. Yale University Press: New Haven.Google Scholar
Froberg, J., Karlsson, C., Levi, L. & Lindberg, L. (1971). Physiological and biochemical stress reactions induced by psychosocial stimuli. In Society, Stress and Disease vol. 1 (ed. Levi, L.), pp. 280–299. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Gottschalk, L. A. & Gleser, G. C. (1969). The Measurement of Psychological States Through the Content Analysis of Verbal Behaviour. University of California Press: Berkeley.Google Scholar
Gusova, A. B. (1969). Nekotorye klinikofiziologicheskie osobennosti anksioznykh sostoyanil. Zhurnal Neuropatologii i Psikhiatrii 69 (3), 390–396.Google Scholar
Hankoff, L. D., Rudorfer, L. & Paley, H. M. (1962). A reference study of Ataraxics: a two week double blind outpatient evaluation. Journal of New Drugs 2, 173–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Izard, C. E. (1972). Anxiety: a variable combination of emotions. In Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research (ed. Spielberger, C. D.), pp. 50–106. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Jones, M. T., Bridges, P. K. & Leak, D. (1968). Relationship between the cardiovascular and sympathetic responses to the physiological stress of an examination. Clinical Science 35, 73–79.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. I. & Lacey, B. C. (1958). Verification and extension of the principle of autonomic response-stereotype. American Journal of Psychology 71, 50–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lader, M. H. (1972). The nature of anxiety. British Journal of Psychiatry 121, 481–491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levi, L. (1963). The urinary output of adrenalin and noradrenalin during experimentally induced emotional stress in clinically different groups. Archives of Psychotherapeutics 11, 218–227.Google ScholarPubMed
Levitt, E. E. (1967). The Psychology of Anxiety. The Bobbs-Merrill Company: Indianapolis.Google Scholar
Lorimer, A. R., Macfarlene, P. W., Provan, G., Duffy, T. & Lawrie, T. W. V. (1971). Blood pressure and catecholamine responses to ‘stress’ in normotensive and hypertensive subjects. Cardiovascular Research 5, 169–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, C. K. (1965). Psychological correlates of coronary artery disease. Psychosomatic Medicine 27, 257–265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nowlis, U. & Green, R. F. (1965). Factor analytic studies of the mood adjective checklist. Technical Report No. 4, Research Program on Mood and Attitude Change, Department of Psychology, University of Rochester.Google Scholar
O'Neil, H. F. Jr, Hansen, D. N. & Spielberger, C. D. (1969). The effects of state and trait anxiety on computer-assisted learning. Unpublished paper.Google Scholar
Pichot, P. (1971). Quantification of psychological stress responses. In Society, Stress and Disease, vol. 1 (ed. Levi, L.), pp. 49–53. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Raush, H. L. (1969). Naturalistic method and the clinical approach. In Naturalistic Viewpoints in Psychological Research (ed. Willems, E. P. and Raush, H. L.), pp. 122–146. Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York.Google Scholar
Rychlak, J. F. & Lerner, J. J. (1965). An expectancy interpretation of manifest anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2, 677–684.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sarason, I. G. (1960). Empirical findings and theoretical problems in the use of anxiety scales. Psychological Reports 57 (5), 403–415.Google ScholarPubMed
Sechrest, L. (1969). Nonreactive assessment of attitudes. In Naturalistic Viewpoints in Psychological Research (ed. Willems, E. P. and Raush, H. L.), pp. 147–160. Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D. (ed.) (1966). Anxiety and Behavior. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Sunderman, F. W. (1970). Colorimetric determination of vanillymandelic acid in urine. Clinical Chemistry 6, 99–106.Google Scholar
Tatsuoka, M. M. (1971). Multivariate Analysis: Techniques for Educational and Psychological Research. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. A. (1953). A personality scale of manifest anxiety. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 48, 285–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomkins, S. S. (1962). Affect, Imagery, Consciousness. Vol. 1: The Positive Affects. Springer: New York.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P.J. & Lader, M. H. (1976). Central and peripheral correlates of anxiety: a comparative study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 162, 99–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weil-Malherbe, H. (1968). The estimation of total (free plus conjugated) catecholamines and some catecholamine metabolites in human urine. Methods of Biochemical Analysis 16, 293–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willems, E. P. (1969). Planning a rationale for naturalistic research. In Naturalistic Viewpoints in Psychological Research (ed. Willems, E. P. and Raush, H. L.), pp. 44–68. Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, M. & Biase, D. W. (1962). Replication and further data on the validity of the affect adjective check list measure of anxiety. Journal of Consulting Psychology 26, 291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar