Anxiety and mood states in delinquent adolescents

Studied the relationship between state-trait anxiety and mood states in deliquents by giving the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) (Spielberger, 1973) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) (McNair, Lorr, & Droppleman, 1971) to 41 behavior problem adolescents who were residents of a facility for youthful offenders. Results indicated that males and females did not differ significantly. The A-State portion of the STAIC was correlated significantly with the Vigor-Activity and Anger-Hostility portions of the POMS as well as the Total Mood Disturbance index. On the other hand, the A-Trait portion of the STAIC was correlated significantly with the Depression-Dejection, the Tension-Anxiety, and the Fatigue-Inertia portions of the POMS as well as the Total Mood Disturbance index. Findings were discussed in terms of their relationship to previous research and in terms of the differences in conception of affective states presented by Spielberger (1973) and McNair et al. (1971).