title: A concise measure of anger in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder.
abstract: There is a need for a brief specific measure of anger for use in assessment of posttraumatic mental health problems. One unpublished short scale is the Dimensions of Anger Reactions (DAR; R. Novaco, 1975). This study examined the psychometric properties of the DAR using intake and 12-month data for 192 Australian Vietnam veterans with combat-related PTSD. Results showed the DAR to be unidimensional, reliable, and sensitive to change over time, and removal of two items improved the scale's properties. The DAR measures anger disposition directed towards others. Assessment of convergent validity indicated that the DAR primarily measures Trait Anger. Results suggest that the DAR is a psychometrically strong measure, potentially useful for the evaluation of anger in PTSD.
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, PO Box 5444, Heidelberg W, Victoria 3081, Australia. dforbes@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Forbes
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hawthorne
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Biddle
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Creamer
authors.forename: Raymond W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Novaco
mesh_terms: D000786:Anger; D001315:Australia; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D014744:Vietnam