IPAT Anxiety Scale – Self-analysis Form

Anxiety can be normal in stressful situations such as public speaking or taking a test.
Anxiety is only an indicator of underlying disease when feelings become excessive, all-
consuming, and interfere with daily living. Anxiety is a common emotion when dealing with
daily stresses and problems. But when these motions are persistent, excessive, and irrational, and
affect a person’s ability to function, anxiety becomes a disorder.
Anxiety can be defined as a complex blend of unpleasant feelings and cognitions oriented
to the future and more diffuse than fear (Barlow, 2002). In general, anxiety is experienced at
three levels; 1) cognitive, 2) physiological, and 3) behavioural. These three components combine
to give an unpleasant experience that is typically associated with uneasiness, apprehension, fear,
or worry. Anxiety is a generalized mood condition that can often occur without the presence of
any identifiable triggering stimulus which distinguishes it from fear. In contrast, fear is a reaction
to an identifiable perceived threat. Further, anxiety can also be defined as a “state of arousal”
caused by a threat to the well-being. “State” means a condition involving the entire organism.
“Arousal” means a condition of tension, unrest or uneasiness, or readiness to act and respond.
“Threat” means anticipation of pain or danger or serious interference with goal-seeking activities
(Spielberger, 1971).
Anxiety involves a multisystem response ranging from multiple biochemical changes in
the body, the individual’s personal history and memory, to the social situation. Human anxiety
involves an ability to use memory and imagination to move backward and forward in time,
which animals do not appear to have. This hypothesis also is supported by the anxiety caused by
post-traumatic syndromes. It indicates that human memory has much more complicated
functions in comparison to animal memory. Moreover, a large portion of human anxiety is
produced by anticipation of future events.
Anxiety disorders can cause people to try to avoid situations that trigger or worsen their
symptoms. Job performance, school work, and personal relationships can be affected. In general,
for a person to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, the fear or anxiety must:
• Be out of proportion to the situation or age-inappropriate
• Hinder ability to function normally
There are several types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic
disorder, specific phobias, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, and separation anxiety disorder.
It is important to distinguish between anxiety as a feeling/experience versus anxiety as a
psychiatric disorder. A person may feel anxious without having an anxiety disorder. Also, a
person facing a clear and present danger or a realistic fear is not usually considered to be in a
state of anxiety. In addition, anxiety frequently occurs as a symptom in other categories of
psychiatric disturbance.

Description of the Test

The I. P. A. T. Anxiety Scale (also known as Self-analysis Form) was primarily
developed by Raymond B. Cattell, Krug, and Scheier (1976) and published by Institute for
Personality and Ability Testing (IPAT). It is a result of its author’s extensive studies of the
factorial structure of personality. The IPAT Anxiety Scale is a brief, valid, and non-stressful
questionnaire scale, measuring anxiety levels in adults and young adults. The test is in
questionnaire form, is practically self-administering, and takes only five-to-ten minutes. It gives
an accurate appraisal of free anxiety level, supplementing clinical diagnosis, and facilitating all
kinds of research or mass screening operations where very little diagnostic or assessment time
can be spent with each examinee.
The present questionnaire has 40 items representing the five scales most heavily loaded
in the anxiety factor. Therefore, the Anxiety Scale relies mainly on the construct validity
obtained from the factor analyses. On this scale, the first 20 items are Covert Anxiety, and the
last 20 items are Overt Anxiety. It consists of three possible answers: a) often, b) sometimes, and
c) never. The scale assesses two kinds of anxiety namely 1) covert anxiety and 2) overt anxiety.
Covert anxiety is defined as unrecognized and unrealized anxiety and overt anxiety is defined as
symptomatic anxiety.
 Method

Experimenter: Date:
Subject: Time:

Aim
To assess the level of anxiety through IPAT Anxiety Scale – Self-analysis Form.

Plan
The IPAT Anxiety Scale has to be administered to the subject and the responses have to be
scored and interpreted according to the norms.

Materials
1. IPAT Anxiety Scale - Self-analysis Form.
2. Key and Norms
3. Writing materials

Procedure
The subject is seated comfortably. Rapport has to be established. The subject has to be given a
copy of the anxiety scale booklet which contains 40 items. The subject is asked to answer the
questions in the booklet after the instructions are given on how to answer them. Tell the subject
to read the questions and mark a, b, or c options (boxes). If the subject accepts the situation,
he/she should mark ‘X’ in ‘a’ and if not mark ‘X’ in ‘b’. If the subject finds it impossible to
decide the situation, then he/she should mark ‘X’ in c. Before starting with the experiment make
sure the environmental conditions (lighting, temperature) are adjusted to provide a comfortable
test setting. In order to establish good rapport and maximize the validity of the responses, the
examiner should make introductory remarks appropriate to the situation. After the subject
receives the questionnaire and if needed, the examiner can read the items to the subject aloud and
ask him/her to answer what comes to his/her mind immediately. Don’t allow the subject to take a
lot of time for the same question and complete it as soon as possible. The test is not timed but
typically requires only about 10 minutes for the subject of average reading ability who is not
excessively disturbed. Anyone taking an unusually long time should be reminded that the ‘first
response’ to each question is what is needed. Tell the subject that there are no right or wrong
answers. After the subject finishes answering, the responses have to be scored with the help of
the scoring key and the anxiety level has to be determined.

Instructions
“Inside this booklet, there are 40 statements about how most people feel or think at one time or
another. There are no right or wrong answers. Just pick the one that is really true for you and
mark the a, b, or c answers. You will start with the two simple examples below, for practice.
Read the first sentence and then put an “X” in the box that tells how you feel about walking. If
you enjoy walking, you would put an “X” in the ‘a’ box. If you don’t, you’d mark it in the ‘c’
box. If you enjoy walking once in a while, you would mark the middlebox. But mark the
middlebox only if it is impossible for you to decide definitely ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. But don’t use it
unless you absolutely have to.”
 Controls/Precautions
1. Instructions should be clear and doubts should be clarified before the start of the test.
2. Every effort should be made to secure complete cooperation and a true answer from the
subject for every statement.
3. The subject should interpret the questions by himself/herself. The experiment may give the
meaning of difficult words/phrases if needed.
4. All questions should be answered and there has to be only one answer for each question.
5. Motivate the subject to answer the questions as fast as possible.

Scoring and Analysis of Results

1. Score the subject’s responses according to the norms.
2. Find separate scores for A (Covert Anxiety) and B (Overt Anxiety).
A: Covert Anxiety (Unrealized anxiety)
Note: -
B: Overt Anxiety (Symptomatic Conscious Anxiety)
3. Using the total score, find the corresponding sten score, and percentile rank and interpret.
Higher sten scores indicate a higher level of anxiety.

Points for Discussion

1. Discuss the total score and the items that indicate covert anxiety or overt anxiety in the
subject.
2. Discuss the sten score and percentile rank.

Individual table showing the subject’s results for IPAT Anxiety Scale – Self-analysis Form

Name Score Raw Score Sten Score Percentile Interpretation

A: Covert B: Overt Rank
Anxiety Anxiety

Discussion

Conclusion

Applications
1. The IPAT Anxiety Scale is a brief, valid, and non-stressful questionnaire scale, measuring
anxiety levels in adults and young adults.
2. It is useful in all kinds of research or mass screening operations where very little diagnostic
or assessment time can be spent with each examinee.
3. It gives an accurate appraisal of free anxiety levels.
4. In an industrial and corporate setting, the scale can be used for deciding whether to recruit an
employee depending on his/her current levels of anxiety.
5. The scale can be used for career counselling among those who have joined a job newly
and are experiencing high levels of anxiety.