Anxiety goes under the skin: Behavioral inhibition, anxiety, and autonomic arousal in speech-anxious males

This study examined the physiological correlates of behavioral inhibition and trait anxiety in speech-anxious male college students. We hypothesized that behavioral inhibition and trait anxiety would be associated with an increase in skin conductance level (SCL), but not heart rate, in response to an impromptu speech task. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that trait anxiety, but not behavioral inhibition, predicted SCL. Neither behavioral inhibition nor trait anxiety predicted heart rate reactivity. These findings support the notion that SCL is a better autonomic indicator of trait anxiety than heart rate.

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