Anxiety and hostility in written verbal samples of male and female subjects. A content analytic study.

Nonclinical populations of male and female subjects of middle socioeconomic level and different age ranges were assessed by means of the content analysis method developed by Gottschalk and associates. Verbal samples consisted of written productions in response to a standard ambiguous instruction to narrate a dramatic or interesting life experience and were scored for anxiety and hostility. Results show that the method shows no influence of gender under the conditions of this study and can be employed for diagnostic purposes, assuming that personality factors and psychopathological influences might have a more pronounced impact on affect scores.