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Anxiety
Anxiety is variously defined as a basic human emotion, as a stable or enduring personality trait, or as a form of psychopathology when it impairs behavior and reduces quality of life. This entry covers all three approaches to human anxiety and in the process reviews theories of how anxiety develops and its impact on human well-being at various stages of life.
Anxiety as Emotion and as a Trait
Anxiety as an emotion or feeling state is characterized by worry or an internal sense of turmoil about anticipated events perceived to be threatening. Feelings of anxiety are produced by brain mechanisms involved in arousal and fear responses as well as neurophysiological systems involved in negative affect and behavioral avoidance.
Feelings of anxiety are not the same as fear, which ...
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- Ego Development
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- Motivation (Intrinsic, Extrinsic)
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- Personality
- Physical Appearance
- Planning Skills
- Playfulness
- Pride
- Purpose
- Resilience
- Security
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Worth
- Sensation Seeking
- Sexual Identity
- Sexuality
- Skill
- Social Identity
- Temperament
- Temperament and Personality
- Tolerance
- Trustworthiness
- Well-Being
- Wisdom
- Relationships and the Social World
- Adolescent–Parent Relationships
- Adoption
- Adult Attachment
- Aggression
- Attachment
- Attraction, Interpersonal
- Autonomy-Supportive Parenting
- Beanpole Family
- Blended Family
- Caregiver Stress
- Close Relationships
- Coaching
- Cohabitation
- Convoy Model
- Coparenting
- Dating
- Diverse Families/Stepfamilies
- Divorce
- Domestic Violence/Partner Violence
- Dyadic Regulation
- Ethnic-Racial Socialization
- Familism
- Family Chaos
- Family Contexts
- Family Life Cycle
- Family Rituals
- Family Synchrony
- Family Systems
- Fathering
- Filial Anxiety
- Filial Piety
- Friendships
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Issues
- Gender Socialization
- Glass Ceiling
- Grandchildren
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- Homophily
- Household Chaos
- Household Economics
- Indirect Aggression
- Indiscriminate Social Responsiveness
- Interactions, Interpersonal
- Intergenerational Programs
- Intergenerational Relationships
- Intergenerational Transmission
- Internal Working Model
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- Intersubjectivity
- Kinship
- Marital Conflict
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- Marriage
- Mattering
- Mentoring
- Multigenerational Family
- Neurobiology of Affiliation
- Neurobiology of Mothering
- Nuclear Family
- Online Communication
- Organization of Relationships: Messiness and Reparation
- Ostracism
- Parent–Child Conflict
- Parent–Child Interactions
- Parent–Child Synchrony
- Parental Authority
- Parental Conditional Regard
- Parenting
- Parenting by Lesbians and Gay Men; Outcomes for Children and Youth
- Parenting Style
- Peer Rejection
- Peer Victimization
- Peers
- Pets
- Popularity
- Public Engagement
- Remarriage
- Romantic Relationships
- School–Family Links
- Siblings, Sibling Relationships
- Single Parenthood
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- Social Competence
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- Social Groups
- Social Information Processing
- Social Isolation
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- Stepfamilies and Blended Families
- Street Life
- Teen Parenthood
- Transactions
- Victimization
- Work/Family Conflict
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- Palliative Care
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- Sociocultural Constructs
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- Census
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- Deception
- Discipline
- Dissent
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- Familism
- Forgiveness
- Free Will
- Gender
- Generosity
- Glass Ceiling
- Human Rights
- Identity Development
- Ideology
- Inequality
- Insurance
- Justice
- Law
- Leadership
- Leisure
- Liberalism
- Materialism
- Mattering
- Media
- Morality
- Negotiation
- Norms
- Organizations
- Ownership
- Paradox
- Philanthropy
- Politics
- Property
- Public Engagement
- Reciprocity
- Rejection Versus Acceptance
- Sin
- Social Capital
- Social Categorization
- Social Inequality
- Social Status
- Socioeconomic Status
- Specificity Principle
- Status Hierarchy
- Stereotype (Stereotyping)
- Symbolic Representation
- Time
- Universal Education
- Values
- War
- Work
- Socioemotional Development
- Affective Forecasting
- Aggression
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Bullying
- Character Strengths and Virtues
- Child Abuse and Neglect
- Child Maltreatment
- Closure and Grief
- Compassion
- Coping
- Crying
- Cyberbullying
- Difficult Children
- Discriminating Sociability
- Discrimination/Prejudice
- Disgust
- Doubt
- Emotion Regulation
- Emotion Socialization
- Emotional Expression
- Emotional Intelligence
- Emotion-Focused Coping
- Emotions
- Empathy
- Fear
- Gender Development
- Gender Identity Development
- Gratitude
- Grief
- Guilt
- Happiness
- Hope
- Jealousy and Envy
- Life Goals
- Life Satisfaction
- Loneliness
- Love
- Parent–Child Interaction
- Persuasion
- Phobias
- Prosociality
- Psychological Needs
- Psychosexual Stages of Development
- Psychosocial Development
- Psychosocial Moratorium
- Regret
- Sadness
- Self
- Self-Actualization
- Self-Deception
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Perceptions
- Self-Regulation
- Self-Worth
- Sensation Seeking
- Sex Differences
- Sex Education
- Sexual Assault
- Sexual Attitudes
- Sexual Identity
- Sexual Risk Behaviors
- Shame
- Smile
- Social and Emotional Behavior
- Social Anxiety
- Social Development
- Social Understanding
- Sympathy
- Theory of Mind
- Trust
- Theory
- Activity Theory
- Developmental Theory
- Diathesis–Stress Model
- Dynamic Systems Theory
- Eriksonian Theory
- Ethnotheories
- Evolutionary Theories of Aging
- Information Processing
- Life History Theory
- Piaget’s Theory
- Programmed Theories of Aging
- Psychoanalytic Theory
- Relational Developmental Systems
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Equity Theory
- Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
- Solidarity Theory
- Specificity Principle
- Universals
- Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
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