title: Anger and postcombat mental health: validation of a brief anger measure with U.S. soldiers postdeployed from Iraq and Afghanistan.
abstract: The involvement of anger in the psychological adjustment of current war veterans, particularly in conjunction with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), warrants greater research focus than it has received. The present study concerns a brief anger measure, Dimensions of Anger Reactions (DAR), intended for use in large sample studies and as a screening tool. The concurrent validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity of the instrument were examined in conjunction with behavioral health data for 3,528 treatment-seeking soldiers who had been in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Criterion indices included multiple self-rated measures of psychological distress (including PTSD, depression, and anxiety), functional difficulties (relationships, daily activities, work problems, and substance use), and violence risk. Concurrent validity was established by strong correlations with single anger items on 4 other scales, and discriminant validity was found against anxiety and depression measures. Pertinent to the construct of anger, the DAR was significantly associated with psychosocial functional difficulties and with several indices of harm to self and to others. Hierarchical regression performed on a self/others harm index found incremental validity for the DAR, controlling for age, education, military component, officer rank, combat exposure, PTSD, and depression. The ability to efficiently assess anger in at-risk military populations can provide an indicator of many undesirable behavioral health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-7085, USA. rwnovaco@uci.edu
authors.forename: Raymond W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Novaco
authors.forename: Rob D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.forename: Oscar I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Gahm
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Reger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D012306:Risk; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology; D014857:Warfare; D055815:Young Adult