Anxiety and autonomy in adolescence among father-orphaned kibbutz children

The aim of the study was to measure levels of anxiety and autonomy in non-clinically referred kibbutz orphaned and non-orphaned adolescents. The performance of 28 kibbutz adolescents orphaned when aged 2-10 was compared to 42 non-orphaned kibbutz adolescents on the Manifest Anxiety Scale for Israeli Children, the Autonomy of the Child Test and on a general data questionnaire. Results showed that when total populations were considered, no significant differences were found on levels of manifest anxiety and levels of autonomy. When the groups were further broken down according to gender and age, it was found that older orphan girls manifested significantly greater anxiety than any group and significantly lower autonomy than older non-orphan girls. A rationale linking the vulnerability of older orphan girls to adolescent developmental theory is suggested.