The Effectiveness Of Rational-Emotive Therapy In The Reduction Of Trait Anxiety Of College Undergraduate Students

Author

Thomas Stanley Golabek, University of the Pacific

Date of Award

1980

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Helmut H. Reimer

First Committee Member

Heath Lowry

Second Committee Member

W. Preston Gleason

Third Committee Member

Roger C. Katz

Fourth Committee Member

Gary N. Howells

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) in reducing levels of trait anxiety in undergraduates who enrolled in anxiety reduction workshops. S's were 44 volunteer male and female students from the University of the Pacific who enrolled in either an independent study or a mini-course series of 8 sessions, and were assigned to one of the three randomly designated groups: Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), Attention Placebo (AP), or No-Treatment (NT). The AP procedure consisted of exposure to various nutritional aspects of physical fitness which focused on vitamin and mineral intake. Two self-report measures, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL) were used, as well as a behavioral measure, the Anxiety Rating Scale (ARS), to assess the effectiveness of each treatment on anxiety. It was hypothesized that the self-report scales would reflect a decrease in anxiety which would be greatest for the RET treatment. The second hypothesis was that students in the RET treatment would show the greatest amount of anxiety reduction according to the behavioral measure. The third hypothesis stated that there would be no sex differentiation in anxiety reduction within any of the treatments. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the difference scores was the method of statistical analysis for both of the self-report measures, and an analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) on the difference scores was the method used for the behavioral measure, with alpha set at .05 for all analyses. Results showed that there was a significant difference, according to the STAI, in the effectiveness of anxiety reduction of the RET and AP groups. The MAACL failed to reveal any significant differences between treatments. The ARS did find significantly more effectiveness in anxiety reduction in the RET treatment over the two control groups. All instruments revealed no differences for sex differentiation in anxiety reduction within any of the treatments.

Pages

124

Recommended Citation

Golabek, Thomas Stanley. (1980). The Effectiveness Of Rational-Emotive Therapy In The Reduction Of Trait Anxiety Of College Undergraduate Students. University of the Pacific, Dissertation. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3460