The psychometric properties of a Dutch version of Buss and Perry's Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) were examined in a sample of violent forensic psychiatric inpatients and outpatients and a sample of secondary vocational students. The internal consistency, interitem correlations, and item-scale correlations of the subscales Physical Aggression, Anger, and Hostility were good but turned out to be unsatisfactory for the subscale Verbal Aggression. The four-factor structure of the AQ could not be confirmed, but the four-factor structure of a 12-item version (short form) of the AQ, the AQ-SF, produced an acceptable fit. The test-retest reliability of the AQ and AQ-SF total scores was good, although the test-retest reliability of the AQ-SF subscale Physical Aggression was not satisfactory. The validity of both the AQ and AQ-SF could be demonstrated by meaningful correlations with alternative measures of aggression and personality, but inpatients were not found to display higher scores on the AQ or AQ-SF than the students.
We examined the psychometric properties of the Novaco Anger Scale-Provocation Inventory (NAS-PI, 1994 version) in Dutch violent forensic psychiatric patients and secondary vocational students. A confirmatory factor analysis of the subscale structure of the NAS was carried out, reliability was investigated, and relations were calculated between NAS-PI scores and other measures of personality traits and problem behaviors. The 3-subscale structure of the original NAS could not be confirmed. However, the internal consistency of the NAS and the PI was excellent, and the test-retest reliability of the NAS was good. The validity of the NAS and the PI was supported by a meaningful pattern of correlations with alternative measures of anger and personality traits. Forensic psychiatric outpatients displayed higher NAS scores than secondary vocational students, but inpatients scored even lower than this nonclinical control group. Our preliminary conclusion is that the NAS-PI is a valuable instrument for the assessment of anger in Dutch violent forensic psychiatric patients.
Until now alexithymia has not been investigated in Dutch low-educated offenders who are known for their violent behaviour. We therefore investigated a sample of aggressive forensic psychiatric outpatients, who are characterized by emotional dysregulation in conflict situations. For that purpose we used a Dutch questionnaire, the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ; Vorst & Bermond, 2001), which we also administered in a sample of secondary vocational students for a comparison. Unfortunately, the five-factor structure of the BVAQ could not be confirmed in both samples, but in the patient sample the test-retest reliability of the total score turned out to be moderate, and meaningful correlations were found with measures of relevant personality domains and problem behaviours. When both samples were compared, patients were found to display significantly higher total scores on the BVAQ than the secondary vocational students, when controlled for age. Therefore, we concluded that alexithymia may contribute to the aggressive behaviour of violent forensic psychiatric outpatients. However, patients as well as students had much higher total scores on the BVAQ than found by Vorst and Bermond (2001) in a sample of Dutch psychology students. This indicates that alexithymia as measured by the BVAQ is also inversely related to educational level and perhaps to intelligence.
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