A comparison of the effects of unstructured time on anxiety in inner-directed and other-directed persons

This study was designed to determine whether or not there is anxiety change during periods of unstructured time in people who were identified and classified as inner-directed and other-directed individuals. The intent was also to examine the relationship between self-concept and anxiety change in the two classifications.The research was planned to examine three hypotheses. A t test was administered for significance of difference in anxiety change between the inner- and other-directed classifications, and correlation coefficients were established in order to examine the relationship between anxiety and self-concept in the two classifications. The data used in this study were collected from the test results on the modified scale from the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), the scores from the pretests and posttests of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS), and the scores from the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS).The TMAS was administered to 28 participants in an unstructured workshop on creativity on the first day and again on the afternoon of the fourth day when the workshop was completed. The TSCS and the modified scale from the POI were administered on the second day.The 28 subjects included 8 men and 20 women employed by the Louisville Board of Education. Administrators, teachers, social workers, and paraprofessionals volunteered for this experience. They ranged in age from 18 to 55.Subjects scoring in the upper two quartiles on the modified inner- and other-directed POI scale were classified as inner-directed; whereas those scoring in the lower two quartiles were classifed as other-directed. Two pilot studies were conducted with this modified scale previous to its use on this study. Hypothesis #1 was examined by comparing the means of the anxiety change scores which were taken from the TMAS pretests and posttests. A t test was administered for significance of difference between the two means of the TMAS pretest and posttests and was significant at the .05 level of confidence.Hypotheses #2 and #3 were examined by using a correlation co-efficient on the anxiety change scores and the Total P scores from the T SCS. The r's were examined, but the relationship between anxiety change and the self-concept scores of this population were not significant in either classification. The self-concept of the inner-directed, however, was significantly higher than the self-concept of the other-directed.The inner-directed subjects dropped significantly in anxiety scores after the unstructured time. Other-directed subjects did have an increase in anxiety scores, but it was not significant at the .05 level of confidence.Thesis (D. Ed.