Objective: Buss-Perry’s Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) (Buss and Perry, 1992) is a 29-item questionnaire that assesses four aggression related categories (physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility). In the aim of this study, the reliability, validity and factorial analysis of the Turkish translation of the Buss-Perry’s AQ was conducted in male substance dependent inpatients.
Method: The present study was conducted with an adult sample of 200 consecutively admitted male substance dependent inpatients between May and December 2009 in Bakirkoy Training and Research Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, AMATEM (Alcohol and Drug Research, Treatment and Education Center) in Istanbul. All inpatients were evaluated with the AQ, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Factor analysis was performed for AQ items. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess internal consistency that provides some indication of reliability. Test-retest method was also applied for reliability. Other instruments (STAXI and BIS-11 for aggressive, BDI and STAI for affective symptoms) were administered together with the AQ to validate the test (external or concurrent validation).
Results: The Turkish version of the scale with 28-item and four factor solution was found to be compatible with the original scale in male substance dependent inpatients. The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s) was 0.89 for Factor 1 (Physical Aggression) scale, 0.84 for Factor 2 (Hostility) scale, 0.82 for Factor 3, 0.59 for Factor 4, and 0.93 for AQ total score. Item-subscale correlations ranged between 0.59 and 0.79. For each of the items, the corrected item-total correlation values were between 0.25 and 0.75. Test-retest correlations were 0.80 for Factor 1, 0.77 for Factor 2, 0.78 for Factor 3, 0.54 for Factor 4, and 0.84 for AQ total score. Four subscales and total score of AQ were correlated significantly with total scores and subscales of the STAXI and the BIS-11.
Conclusion: Results which were obtained in this study suggests that the Turkish version of the AQ with 28-item and four factor solution could be used as a reliable and valid instrument in substance dependent inpatients. The results also suggest that the four scales of the AQ have moderate to high internal consistencies and are stable over two weeks of testing.
Key words: Aggression questionnaire, psychometrics, reliability, substance dependence, validity
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