State- Trait Anxiety among Orphan and Non-Orphan Adolescents

Abstract

Anxiety is a state of being nervous. Worry, agitation, sweating, an increased heart rate, rapid breathing accompany anxiety. State anxiety describes the experience of unpleasant feelings when confronted with specific situations, demands or a particular object or event. Trait anxiety arises in response to a perceived threat, but it differs in its intensity, duration and the range of situations in which it occurs. The aim of this article is to explore whether presence of parents have any role in trait anxiety and state anxiety of adolescents. For this purpose a sample of 171 adolescents- 60 orphans and 111 non-orphans were selected through simple random sampling. The sample of orphans was collected from two orphanage homes and the sample of non-orphans was collected from one school in Thrissur. State-Trait-Anxiety test developed by Sanjay Vohra (1992) was used to know the level of anxiety. To study the difference in anxiety t-test was used. The results indicated the vital role of parents and joint family system in state-trait anxiety of the adolescents. The implications of the study are also discussed.