Citation

Lawrence C. Aggressive Behav. 2006; 32(3): 241-252.

Affiliation

School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK (Claire.Lawrence@nottingham.ac.uk)

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ab.20122

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents the development of the Situational Triggers of Aggressive Responses (STAR) scale: a self-report instrument examining individual differences in the type of events and antecedents that make people feel aggressive. In Study 1 (N = 145), participants recorded recently occurring incidents that had generated feelings of aggression in them and recorded their affect at the time of the event using the Positive and Negative Affectivity Scale. The results showed that aggression-triggering events provoked positive as well as negative affect in the sample. In Study 2 (N = 849), a 23-item scale was generated based on the events recorded during Study 1. The scale comprised two sub-scales: Frustrations and Provocations, which showed good internal reliability and good factor congruency between male and female participants' factor structures. Studies 3 (N = 241) and 4 (N = 219) demonstrated the convergent reliability of the STAR scale with measures of trait aggression [Buss and Perry, 1992] and trait narcissism [Raskin and Terry, 1988] with self-concept clarity [Campbell, Trapnell, Heine et al., 1996]. Again, the STAR scale showed good internal reliability. There were no effects of sex on STAR scale scores across Studies 3 and 4. It is suggested, therefore, that sex differences may become more salient when examining aggressive behavior, rather than aggressive feelings.

Language: en