The objective of this study was to verify the effect of sex, socioeconomic status (SES) and birth order on state-trait anxiety. The subjects were 437 primary and secondary school students of both sexes, firt-borns and non-first-borns, belonging to both upper-middle and lower socioeconomic levels. Regarding state-anxiety (SA), main effects of the variables sex and SES could be observed. Women presented higher scores than men, and so did the subjects from lower SES in relation to the subjects of upper-middle SES. There was an interaction between SES and birth order. Students who were first-borns of the upper-middle SES showed lower SA than first-borns and non first-borns of lower SES. In another interaction, female first-borns of lower SES showed higher SA than males of upper-middle SES, both first-borns and non-first-borns, and also higher than female first-borns of upper-middle SES. The results of trait-anxiety showed taht women obtained higher scores than men, as well as subjects of low SES did in relation to subjects of upper-middle SES. There were no significant interactions. The results are discussed by emphasizing the importance of sex, socioeconomic status and birth order on levels of state-trait anxiety.
anxiety; sex; socioeconomic status; birth order