Citation

Webster GD, Dewall CN, Pond RS, Deckman T, Jonason PK, Le BM, Nichols AL, Schember TO, Crysel LC, Crosier BS, Smith CV, Paddock EL, Nezlek JB, Kirkpatrick LA, Bryan AD, Bator RJ. J. Pers. Assess. 2015; 97(6): 638-649.

Affiliation

a Department of Psychology, University of Florida.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Society for Personality Assessment, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00223891.2015.1044093

PMID

26055531

Abstract

In contexts that increasingly demand brief self-report measures (e.g., experience sampling, longitudinal and field studies), researchers seek succinct surveys that maintain reliability and validity. One such measure is the 12-item Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ; Webster et al., 2014), which uses 4 3-item subscales: Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. Although prior work suggests the BAQ's scores are reliable and valid, we addressed some lingering concerns. Across 3 studies (N = 1,279), we found that the BAQ had a 4-factor structure, possessed long-term test-retest reliability across 12 weeks, predicted differences in behavioral aggression over time in a laboratory experiment, generalized to a diverse nonstudent sample, and showed convergent validity with a displaced aggression measure. In addition, the BAQ's 3-item Anger subscale showed convergent validity with a trait anger measure. We discuss the BAQ's potential reliability, validity, limitations, and uses as an efficient measure of aggressive traits.

Language: en