Developing an inventory to measure anger in mexican children

Abstract

Based on the state-trait model of anger (Spielberger, 1988, 1999), the aim was to develop a reliable and valid inventory to measure anger in Mexican children. Exploratory factor analy- ses on responses from 592 children (302 boys, 290 girls) (M=10.35 years old, SD=1.14) revealed four factors suggesting construct validity: 6-item state anger (e.g., “I am upset”), 5-item trait-tem- perament (e.g., “I get mad easily”), 7-item anger- out (e.g., “I fight with whoever made me mad”), and 12-item anger control (e.g., “I try to relax”). Alpha reliabilities were .76, .76, .73, and .88, res- pectively. Anger control correlated negatively with other factors, whereas other factors corre- lated positively with each other. The inventory also had concurrent validity with an instrument that measured physical aggression.