ANGER PRONENESS IN WOMEN - DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE ANGER SITUATION QUESTIONNAIRE

In the present series of studies existing hostility and anger trait qu estionnaires were examined. We found them to be unsuitable for our sub jects and purpose. A new questionnaire based on novel principles, the Anger Situation Questionnaire (ASQ), was developed to measure anger pr oneness in women. The ASQ consists of 33 vignettes or scenarios. Each vignette has three dimensions: emotional experience, intensity of emot ional experience, and action readiness mode. The ASQ was administered to 146 female students. Out of this sample two extreme groups were sel ected of 30 subjects each: one group scoring low on self-reported ange r and angry readiness, the other group scoring high on both aspects. A n anger induction paradigm was developed consisting of essentially thr ee elements: a physically aversive situation, the performance of some frustrative tasks, as well as an unpleasantly acting female experiment er. The ASQ was validated in this paradigm: subjects scoring high on t he ASQ became more angry due to these manipulations; moreover, in most of the subjects at one moment or another a state of anger was induced . (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.