Free Association Anxiety and Hostility: View from a Junior High School

Abstract

This study reports component and summary levels of free association anxiety and hostility in junior high school adolescents. Counselor (n = 24) and Noncounselor (n = 19) groups derive from four, brief interpersonal coping classes held at a recently integrated school. These groups consist, respectively, of those referred and those not referred by school guidance personnel. Both groups exhibit higher mean anxiety and hostility levels than do previously studied, normative adult samples. Adolescent development provides one explanation for these differences. Comparison of the two adolescent groups shows that members of the Counselor Groups come from somewhat lower status backgrounds, experience more academic difficulties, and exhibit higher mean anxiety and hostility levels. Three-way analyses of variance discriminate differences due to group, gender, and ethnicity. The concept of role incumbency is useful for explaining the variations observed.