TABLE 1.
Demographics and questionnaire data.
| High spider fearful | Low spider fearful | t/χ2 | p-values | |
| n | 221 | 320 | ||
| Age | 27.28 (8.31) | 32.26 (11.14) | −5.95a | <0.001 |
| Sex = Female | 199 (90.0%) | 212 (66.3%) | 42.41b | <0.001 |
| Depression (BDI) | 33.23 (10.64) | 29.36 (8.38) | 4.53a | <0.001 |
| State anxiety (STAI-S) | 42.01 (11.99) | 37.88 (11.03) | 4.08a | <0.001 |
| Trait anxiety (STAI-T) | 44.46 (12.44) | 38.72 (11.54) | 5.50a | <0.001 |
| Optimism (LOT-R) | 21.48 (4.65) | 23.16 (4.54) | −4.21a | <0.001 |
| Fear of spiders (FSQ) | 44.90 (22.72) | 1.39 (1.94) | 28.40a | <0.001 |
| Fear of snakes (SNAQ) | 9.10 (6.75) | 5.30 (4.60) | 7.28a | <0.001 |
| Worry tendencies (PSWQ) | 50.33 (13.65) | 42.65 (12.62) | 6.73a | <0.001 |
| High snake fearful | Low snake fearful | t/χ2 | p | |
| n | 39 | 473 | ||
| Age | 27.59 (8.25) | 30.39 (10.03) | 1.70a | 0.090 |
| Sex = Female | 348 (73.6%) | 34 (87.2%) | 10.20b | 0.006 |
| Depression (BDI) | 32.72 (12.04) | 30.56 (9.34) | 1.35a | 0.176 |
| State anxiety (STAI-S) | 41.46 (12.97) | 38.93 (11.46) | 1.31a | 0.190 |
| Trait anxiety (STAI-T) | 42.18 (12.43) | 40.48 (12.11) | 0.94a | 0.401 |
| Optimism (LOT-R) | 22.62 (4.55) | 22.59 (4.63) | 0.03a | 0.978 |
| Fear of spiders (FSQ) | 30.18 (27.57) | 15.06 (23.30) | 3.33a | 0.002 |
| Fear of snakes (SNAQ) | 23.38 (2.85) | 4.12 (2.35) | 41.03a | <0.001 |
| Worry tendencies (PSWQ) | 48.97 (14.22) | 45.00 (13.35) | 1.78a | 0.076 |
| High worry | Low worry | t/χ2 | p-values | |
| n | 101 | 529 | ||
| Age | 27.62 (8.57) | 30.59 (10.54) | 3.06a | 0.003 |
| Sex = Female | 140 (88.6%) | 343 (72.7%) | 8.82b | 0.003 |
| Depression (BDI) | 42.51 (12.37) | 28.94 (7.34) | 12.68a | <0.001 |
| State anxiety (STAI-S) | 52.36 (11.46) | 37.43 (10.18) | 12.20a | <0.001 |
| Trait anxiety (STAI-T) | 58.40 (8.83) | 38.15 (9.87) | 19.21a | <0.001 |
| Optimism (LOT-R) | 17.31 (3.71) | 23.33 (4.14) | 13.62a | <0.001 |
| Fear of spiders (FSQ) | 28.58 (30.57) | 15.82 (22.27) | 4.00a | <0.001 |
| Fear of snakes (SNAQ) | 8.41 (6.74) | 6.60 (3.98) | 1.59a | 0.134 |
| Worry tendencies (PSWQ) | 67.63 (4.39) | 42.13 (10.31) | 24.24a | <0.001 |
Means and standard deviations separately for high and low spider fearful, for high and low snake fearful participants as well as for high worriers and low worriers. n, number of participants; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory (Hautzinger et al., 2006); STAI-S and -T, State and trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Laux et al., 1981); LOT-R, revision of the Life-Orientation-Test (Glaesmer et al., 2008); FSQ, Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (Rinck et al., 2002); SNAQ, Snake Questionnaire (Klorman et al., 1974); PSWQ, Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Meyer et al., 1990); at score for group comparison. bχ2 score for gender ration comparison.