Sex and Grade Differences in Children's Manifest Anxiety

Abstract

Responses of 452 4th- and 6th-grade boys and girls to the individual dichotomous items of the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale were analyzed by factorial sex-by-grade analyses of variance. Sex and/or grade differences were obtained on 22 items. Girls manifested greater anxiety on items expressing fear, hurt feelings, being lonesome, nervous, having bad dreams. More boys could not keep their minds on schoolwork. Fourth graders expressed more anxiety on items suggesting physiological or psychosomatic areas such as fast heart beat, difficulty in swallowing, going to sleep, sick at stomach, etc. The significant grade difference in total score was attributed to greater maturity of 6th graders.