Application of the Spielberger's State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory in clinical patients.

OBJECTIVE To examine the factor structure of the Portuguese version of State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) in clinical patients. METHOD 400 subjects from an internal medicine outpatient unit and 200 from a medical ward were recruited. Patients answered questions about clinical data, the STAXI, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Raw score of the STAXI was submitted to reliability assessment and factor analysis. RESULTS Internal consistency using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was of 0.84. The STAXI significantly correlated with BDI at r=0.352 (p<0.01). The final solution of Principal Component Analysis identified five meaningful factors: Trait-Anger, State-Anger, Anger-Control, Anger-Out, and Anger-In. This structural model is close to the original theoretical construct of Spielberger's STAXI. CONCLUSION The Portuguese version of STAXI presented an adequate factorial structure that permits the evaluation of anger dimensions among clinical patients.

[1]  Yemane Berhane,et al.  Anger expression, violent behavior, and symptoms of depression among male college students in Ethiopia , 2009, BMC public health.

[2]  M. Fava,et al.  Major Depressive Disorder with Anger Attacks and Cardiovascular Risk Factors , 2007, International journal of psychiatry in medicine.

[3]  P. Sharan,et al.  Relationship of anger and anger attacks with depression , 2005, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.

[4]  M. Fava,et al.  Anger attacks in depressed outpatients and their response to fluoxetine , 1998, European Psychiatry.

[5]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Factor Structure of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory for Middle-Aged Men and Women , 1998, Assessment.

[6]  D G Forgays,et al.  Factor structure of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. , 1997, Journal of personality assessment.

[7]  S. McGarvey,et al.  Anger expression, age, and blood pressure in modernizing Samoan adults. , 1997, Psychosomatic medicine.

[8]  D. Sukhodolsky,et al.  Development of a Russian State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. , 1997, Journal of clinical psychology.

[9]  D. Laude,et al.  Anger expression and cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress: a spectral analysis approach. , 1997, Clinical and experimental hypertension.

[10]  L. Andrade,et al.  Validation of a Portuguese version of the Beck Depression Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory in Brazilian subjects. , 1996, Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas.

[11]  E. Beurs,et al.  Validation of the Dutch adaptation of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. , 1995, Behaviour research and therapy.

[12]  S. Greer,et al.  Psychological attributes of women who develop breast cancer: a controlled study. , 1975, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[13]  Timothy W. Smith,et al.  Anger, hostility, and the heart , 1994 .

[14]  C. Spielberger,et al.  The Experience, Expression, and Control of Anger , 1988 .

[15]  Walter W. Cook,et al.  Proposed hostility and Pharisaic-virtue scales for the MMPI. , 1954 .