Drawing upon research which conceptualizes anger as a multidimensional
construct including three associated components-anger experience (aff
ective anger), hostility (anger cognitions), and anger expression (agg
ression, assertion, and withdrawal)-the preliminary development of a M
ultidimensional School Anger Inventory (MSAI) for adolescents is descr
ibed. This scale is a modification and extension of the School Anger I
nventory and was developed to assess the affective, cognitive, and exp
ressive aspects of anger using items having school-relevant content. D
ata were collected through personal interviews of 202 males from three
different schools: School 1 included general education students in a
parochial school in grades 6 through 12; School 2 included students at
tending general education or mainstreamed special education classes at
a public intermediate school; and School 3 included students particip
ating in a public day treatment program for youths with serious emotio
nal disturbance. Scale development is discussed focusing on item devel
opment and scale refinement through item and factor analyses. Four fac
tors were identified that accounted for 43.3% of the common variance.
Anger Experience, Cynical Attitudes, and Anger Expression were identif
ied as major clusters with the anger expression items bifurcating into
Destructive Expression and Positive Coping components. The resulting
31-item scare has strong psychometric qualities and appears to have pr
omise for use in research, treatment planning, and outcome evaluations
. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.