Manifest Anxiety as Related to Perceived Similarity to Peers

Abstract

80 college students were involved in testing the hypotheses that peer identification would be negatively associated with adjustment and that peer identification would be more important to the adjustment of the females than to the adjustment of the males. Perceived similarity to a peer (PSP) was measured with the Role Construct Repertory Test, and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale was the adjustment index. A 2 × 2 factorial design, sex by PSP, with MAS scores as the dependent variable, was used. High PSP Ss differed significantly from low PSP Ss (p < .001), and the main effect for sex and the sex by PSP interaction were not significant. Cell comparisons, however, suggested that the males were more responsible for the main effect than the females were. The first hypothesis was clearly supported, and the trend opposite to the second hypothesis was noted.