Turkish Adaptation Study of the State Anger Scale in a Traumatized Sample

Abstract

Anger is an emotional response that occurs with many mental problems, sometimes treated as a symptom, so it would be useful to measure in clinical studies. This study aims to adapt the State Anger Scale to Turkish and to test the validity and reliability of the scale. A sample of 578 women who experienced physical and sexual abuse, aged between 18 to 57 participated in the study. The internal consistency of the scale was calculated by calculating both Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Guttman split-half reliability. While the construct validity of the scale was examined by exploratory factor analysis; the criteria validity of the scale was tested by examining the relationship between traumatic stress and trait anger levels. The predictive validity was tested by regression analysis. The internal consistency coefficient of the scale was α = .94; the split-half reliability coefficient was .89. Results of factor analysis revealed that the scale consisted of two factors that have a high-level positive relationship. The state anger and traumatic stress symptoms were related positively, and state anger level explained 22% of the variance in traumatic stress symptoms. These findings suggest that the Turkish version of the State Anger Scale (STAS) is a valid and reliable measurement tool. The STAS is thought to be a useful tool for both determining the effectiveness of treatment and developing preventive studies especially in the studies of psychological trauma.

Keywords

• anger
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• reliability
• validity