Support for a Maladjustment Interpretation of the Anxiety-Defensiveness Dimension

Abstract

Summary Two groups of 28 college students scoring at the extremes of the Millimet (1970) Manifest Anxiety-Defensiveness (MAD) Scale responded to two adjective check lists, the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (ISB), and Cards 13MF and 14 of TAT. The ISB significantly identified 86% of the low MAD scorers and 75% of the high MAD scorers as adjusted and maladjusted, respectively. Four subjectively determined categories of discriminating adjectives entitled Internal Discomfort, Sensitivity, Interpersonal Uncertainty, and Fatigue supported previous findings that individuals differing in defensive style differ in measures of self-description. TAT stories scored for emotional tone and outcome resulted in nonsignificant findings. Implications toward a unitary dimension of anxiety, defensive style, and personal adjustment were discussed.

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