the corsini encyclopedia of psychology || state-trait anger expression inventory

STATE-TRAIT ANGER EXPRESSION INVENTORY

The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, edited by Irving B. Weiner and W. Edward Craighead.Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

In 1872, Darwin (1965) observed that anger (rage) was apowerful emotion that motivated ‘‘animals of all kinds, andtheir progenitors before them, when attacked or threat-ened by an enemy, to fight and protect themselves’’ (p. 74).Anger is reflected in facial expressions (e.g., reddened face,clenched teeth), muscular tension, and accelerated heartrate, and it differs from rage ‘‘only in degree, and thereis no marked distinction in their characteristics’’ (Darwin,1965, p. 244).

The maladaptive effects of anger are traditionallyemphasized as important contributors to depression,hypertension, and coronary heart disease (Spielberger,Reheiser, & Sydeman, 1995). Though the negative impactof anger, hostility, and aggression is widely recognized,these terms are often used interchangeably, resulting ina diversity of measurement procedures of questionablevalidity. Given the substantial overlap in definitions ofanger, aggression, and hostility, we have referred to themcollectively as the AHA-Syndrome (Spielberger et al.,1995).

The 57-item State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory(STAXI) comprises six scales for assessing the experience,expression, and control of anger (Spielberger, 1999). Theinitial step in developing this inventory was to construct10-item scales to measure the intensity of anger as an emo-tional state (S-Anger) and individual differences in angerproneness as a personality trait (T-Anger). The S-AngerScale was designed to measure a psychobiological stateconsisting of subjective feelings that varied in intensityfrom mild irritation or annoyance to intense fury andrage. The T-Anger Scale measures individual differencesin how often S-Anger is generally experienced.

As research progressed, the critical importance of differ-entiating between the experience of state and trait anger,and the characteristic ways in which anger was expressedand controlled, became increasingly apparent. Trait mea-sures were subsequently developed to assess individualdifferences in anger expression and control. The S-Angerand T-Anger scales were combined with 8-item subscales

for measuring Anger-In, Anger-Out, and Anger Control toform the 44-item STAXI.

Factor analyses of responses to the 44 STAXI itemshave consistently identified factors that correspond withthe STAXI S-Anger, T-Anger, AX-In, AX-Out, and AX/Conscales. All of the STAXI items have salient loadings onthe factors that corresponded with each scale and negli-gible loadings on the other factors. In the revised 57-itemSTAXI-2, the T-Anger Scale and Angry-Temperament andReaction subscales are the same as in the original STAXI.The STAXI S-Anger scale was expanded from 10 to 15items to form three factorially derived 5-item subscales:Feeling Angry and Feel Like Expressing Anger Verbally orPhysically. The AX/Con-Out scale is essentially the sameas the original AX/Con scales and a new scale, AX/Con-In,was constructed to assess efforts to control the suppressionof anger.

Normative data based on more than 1,900 respondentsare reported in the STAXI-2 Test Manual (Spielberger,1999) for normal adults, high school and college students,and psychiatric patients. The normal adults included man-agerial, technical, and clerical personnel. Patients weretested at the time of their admission to psychiatric hospitalprograms.

REFERENCES

Darwin, C. (1965). The expression of emotions in man and animals.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work pub-lished in 1872)

Spielberger, C. D. (1999). Professional manual for the State-TraitAnger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2). Odessa, FL: Psychologi-cal Assessment Resources.

Spielberger, C. D., Reheiser, E. C., & Sydeman, S. J. (1995).Measuring the experience, expression, and control of anger.In H. Kassinove (Ed.), Anger disorders: Definitions, diagnosis, andtreatment (pp. 49–76). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.

CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER

University of South Florida

See also: Anger; Self-Report Inventories; State-Trait AnxietyInventory