Higher trait- and state-anxiety in female law students than male law students

To assess sex differences in anxiety, law students completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory prior to rating one-panel printed comics for humor level or copying text. Subjects completed the State-Anxiety subscale following the task. Although the humor-rating task was not more effective in reducing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychological reports Vol. 68; no. 3 Pt 2; p. 1075
Main Authors McCleary, R, Zucker, E L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.06.1991
Subjects
Adult
Anxiety - psychology
Female
Gender Identity
Humans
Jurisprudence
Male
Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data
Psychometrics
Students - psychology
Wit and Humor as Topic
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Summary:To assess sex differences in anxiety, law students completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory prior to rating one-panel printed comics for humor level or copying text. Subjects completed the State-Anxiety subscale following the task. Although the humor-rating task was not more effective in reducing state anxiety than the copying task, scores on the anxiety subscales indicated that women law students scored consistently and significantly higher than men on both pretask measures and on the posttask measure. This finding is consistent with results from other studies in which other instruments were given. Analyses showed elevated anxiety and stress among preprofessional women; this supports the need for stress-management programs for law students.
ISSN:0033-2941
DOI:10.2466/pr0.1991.68.3c.1075