An approach to the validity of the Taylor Anxiety Scale: scores of medical and psychiatric patients

The Taylor scale is administered individually to a clinic sample of medical and psychiatric outpatients with the result that significant differences in mean scores, distributions, and the point biserial r of .57 indicate that this questionnaire can distinguish a psychiatric population from a normal one with reasonable efficiency. Sampson and Bindra's suggestion that Taylor scores within a limited range (19-33) are more likely to be associated with a clinical diagnosis of "anxious" than scores outside this range, are not borne out. Both findings were confirmed in a cross-validation study utilizing hospitalized VA medical and psychiatric patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).