Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Children and Young Adults' Recognition of Anxiety

  • Published:
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Previous research has shown that decoders (judges) accurately identified state anxiety in peers when provided with brief, single channel (audio-only, video-only) stimuli, and appropriately differentiated trait anxiety. Using a similar approach in the present study with decoders and encoders from three distinct age groups, we discovered that the ability to detect state anxiety transcended age. Children and young adults showed an ability to identify level of state anxiety in young adult and elder encoders. Young adults differentiated levels of state and trait anxiety in young adult and elder encoders. Discussion is focused on the adaptive and practical value of cross-generational identification of state anxiety and trait anxiety, and the difficulty of inferring personality traits in individuals from different peer groups.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1992). Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 256–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auerbach, S.M. (1973). Effects of orienting instructions, feedback information, and trait-anxiety level on state anxiety. Psychological Reports, 33, 779–786.

    Google Scholar 

  • Averill, J. R. (1976). Emotion and anxiety: Sociocultural, biological, and psychological determinants. In M. Zuckerman and C.D. Spielberger (Eds.), Emotions and anxiety (pp. 87–130). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumberg, S.H., & Izard, C.E. (1986). Discriminating patterns of emotion in 10-and 11-yearold children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 852–857.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buck, R. (1975). Nonverbal communication of affect in children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 644–653.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buck, R. (1984). The communication of emotion. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campos, J., & Stenberg, C. (1981). Perception, appraisal, and emotion: The onset of social referencing. In M. Lamb & L. Sherrod (Eds), Infant social cognition. New Jersey: Hillsdale.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camras, L.A. (1980). Children's understanding of facial expressions used during conflict encounters. Child Development, 51, 879–885.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camras, L., & Allison, K. (1985). Children's understanding of emotional facial expressions and verbal labels. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 9, 85–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castaneda, A., McCandless, B. R., & Palermo, D.S. (1956). The Children's Form of the Manifest Anxiety Scale. Child Development, 27, 317–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cattell, R. B. (1966). Anxiety and motivation: Theory and crucial experiments. In C.D. Spielberger (Ed.), Anxiety and behavior (pp. 23–62). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deluty, B.M., Deluty, R.H., & Carver, C. S. (1986). Concordance between clinicians' and patients' ratings of anxiety and depression as mediated by private self-consciousness. Journal of Personality Assessment, 50, 93–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage, & coding. Semiotica, 1, 49–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17, 124–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1975). Unmasking the face. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Endler, N. S., Parker, J. D. A., Bagby, R. M., & Cox, B. J. (1991). Multidimensionality of state and trait anxiety: Factor structure of the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 191–926.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. (1972). The nature of anxiety with emphasis upon its relationship to expectancy. In C.D. Spielberger (Ed.), Anxiety: Current trends in theory and research (pp. 291–337). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finney, J. C. (1985). Anxiety: Its measurement by objective personality tests and self-report. In A. H. Tuma & J. Maser (Eds.), Anxiety and the anxiety disorders (pp. 645–674). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geer, J. H. (1965). The development of a scale to measure fear. Behavior Research and Therapy, 3, 45–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan, J. A. (1984). The effects of task order on children's identification of facial expressions. Motivation and Emotion, 8, 157–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan, J. A., Fluck, S. A., Campbell, A. M., & Harrigan, K. M. (2001). From one generation to another: Young and elder adults' skills in detecting anxiety and defensiveness in one another. Manuscript under revision.

  • Harrigan, J. A., Harrigan, K. M., Sale, B.A., & Rosenthal, R. (1996). Detecting anxiety and defensiveness from visual and auditory cues. Journal of Personality, 64, 675–709.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan, J. A., Larson, M.A., & Pflum, C. (1994). The role of auditory cues in the detection of state anxiety. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1965–1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan, J. A., Lucic, K. S., Bailyn, L., Zarnowiecki, S., & Rosenthal, R. (1992). Judging others' anxiety. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22, 855–873.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan, J. A., Lucic, K. S., & Rosenthal, R. (1991). Retelling anxious events: Effects on trait and state anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 917–927.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan, J. A., Suarez, I., & Hartman, J. S. (1994). Effect of speech errors on observers' judgments of anxious and defensive individuals. Journal of Research in Personality, 28, 505–529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Himmelfarb, S., & Murrell, S. A. (1984). Prevalence and correlates of anxiety symptoms in older adults. Journal of Psychology, 116, 159–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornblower, A. R., Kidson, M. A., & Ironsides, W. (1988). Empathic processes: Perception by medical students of patients' anxiety and depression. Medical Education, 22, 15–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1971). The face of emotion. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1991). The psychology of emotions. New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jurich, A. P., & Jurich, J. A. (1974). Correlations among nonverbal expressions of anxiety. Psychological Reports, 34, 199–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keith, V. M. (1993). Gender, financial strain, and psychological distress among older adults. Research on Aging, 15, 123–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koppers, J. K. (1992). Elders' experience of state anxiety: Effect of trait anxiety and defensiveness. Unpublished master's thesis, California State University, Fullerton, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leary, M. R. (1982). Social anxiety. In L. Wheeler (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 3) (pp. 97–119). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, E. E. (1980). The psychology of anxiety. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malatesta, C. Z. (1981). Affective development over the lifespan: Involution or growth? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 27, 145–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malatesta, C. Z., Fiore, M. J., & Messina, J. J. (1987). Affect, personality, and facial expressive characteristics of older people. Psychology and Aging, 2, 64–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malatesta, C. Z., Izard, C. E., Culver, C., & Nicolich, M. (1987). Emotion communication skills in young, middle-aged, and older women. Psychology and Aging, 2, 193–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malatesta, C. Z., & Kalnok, M. (1984). Emotional experience in younger and older adults. Journal of Gerontology, 39, 301–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, J. C., Barden, R. C., & Ford, M. E. (1979). Affective states, expressive behavior and learning in children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 380–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • McEwan, K. L. K., & Devins, G. M. (1983). Is increasing arousal in social anxiety noticed by others? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 417–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odom, R. D., & Lemond, C. M. (1972). Developmental differences in the perception and production of facial expressions. Child Development, 43, 359–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, L. C., Uhlenhuth, E. H., Lipman, R. S., Rickels, K., & Fisher, S. (1965). A comparison of doctor and patient improvement ratings in a drug (Meprobamate) trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 535–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport, H., & Katkin, E. S. (1972). Relationships among manifest anxiety, response to stress and the perception of autonomic activity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 38, 219–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raskin, A. (1962). Observable signs of anxiety or distress during psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 26, 389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R., Hall, J. A., DiMatteo, M. R., Rogers, P. L., & Archer, D. (1979). Sensitivity to nonverbal communications: The PONS Test, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (1991). Essentials of behavioral research. (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salzman, C. (1991). Pharmacologic treatment of the anxious elderly patient. In C. Salzman, & B.D. Lebowitz (Eds.), Anxiety in the elderly (pp. 149–173). New York: Springer Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigelman, C., & Shaffer, D. (1991). Lifespan human development. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, T. W., Ingram, R. E., & Brehm, H. M. (1983). Social anxiety, anxious self-preoccupation, and recall of self-relevant information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 1276–1283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, C. R., Smith, T. W., Augelli, R. W., & Ingram, R. E. (1985). On the self-serving function of social anxiety: Shyness as a self-handicapping strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 970–980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorce, J. F., Emde, R. N., Campos, J., & Klinnert, M. D. (1981). Maternal emotional signaling: Its effect on the visual cliff behavior in 1-year-olds. Developmental Psychology, 21, 195–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spielberger, C. D. (1972). Anxiety as an emotional state. In C. D. Spielberger (Ed.), Anxiety: Current trends in theory and research. (Vol. 1) (pp. 23–49). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spielberger, C. D. (1973). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychological Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Lushene, R., Vagg, P. R., & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychological Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles, W. B., Shuster, P. L., & Harrigan, J. A. (1992). Disclosure and anxiety: A test of the fever model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 980–988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waxer, P. H. (1977). Nonverbal cues for anxiety: An examination of emotional leakage. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 36, 306–313.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, California State University, P.O. Box 6846, Fullerton, CA, 92834-6846

    Sandra A. Fluck

  2. Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, CA, 92834-6846

    Jinni A. Harrigan & Jennifer Brindley

Authors
  1. Sandra A. Fluck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jinni A. Harrigan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jennifer Brindley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fluck, S.A., Harrigan, J.A. & Brindley, J. Children and Young Adults' Recognition of Anxiety. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 25, 127–146 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010701828701

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010701828701

Search

Navigation