Content scaling of affect in adolescent speech samples

Data are reported which extend the applicability of the Gottschalk-Gleser scales for the content analysis of speech samples to adolescents. The data were gathered on 112 youngsters aged 11-18 stratified by age, race, and sex in a balanced design. Girls had higher Anxiety scores and relatively lower scores on Hostility Directed Inward, Ambivalent Hostility, and Social Alienation and Personal Disorganization than did boys. Blacks spoke less words and expressed more Overt Hostility Outward than did Whites. These latter scores increased with age, as did Hostility Directed Inward. The affect scores for this normative group are also compared to those for "normal" adults and to an adolescent clinic and a juvenile delinquent population. Correlations with three paper-and-pencil inventories (Adolescent Life Assessment Checklist, Defense Mechanisms Inventory, and Rotter I-E scale) are presented.