AGGRESSION QUESTIONNAIRE HOSTILITY SCALE PREDICTS ANGER IN RESPONSE TO MISTREATMENT

We tested the hypotheses that the hostility and anger scales of the Bu ss and Ferry (1992) [Buss, A. H. & Ferry, M. (1992). The Aggression Qu estionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63? 452-459 .] Aggression Questionnaire would predict anger in college students in response to mistreatment. We found low and high hostility groups did not differ in anger at baseline or after completing a task without pro vocation, but the high hostility group reported greater anger than the low group after the onset of provocation, which required all students to redo completed tasks because some students (confederates) were obs erved cheating. Hostility also influenced anxiety and depression, but only anger was greater as a result of the provocation in the high than in the low hostility group. The anger scale did not predict anger in response to provocation, but anger was higher in the high than the low anger group before the provocation. These findings support the constr uct validity of the Aggression Questionnaire hostility scale as a meas ure of suspicion, resentment and sensitivity to mistreatment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.