The Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (also known as the Aggression Questionnaire and sometimes referred to as the AGQ or AQ) was designed by Arnold H. Buss and Mark Perry, professors from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in a 1992 article for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.Buss, Arnold H. and Perry, Mark. P. (1992). The Aggression Questionnaire.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology The ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Psychological Association that was established in 1965. It covers the fields of social and personality psychology. The edi ...

, 63, 452-459. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-00039-001

History and development

The AQ was meant to be an improvement from a previous scale developed by Arnold H. Buss in 1957 with Ann Durkee which measured different types of interpersonal

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, called the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. The scales and items of the Hostility inventory were developed following observations in clinical psychology situations, with limited statistical analysis. As a result, when

factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. For example, it is possible that variations in six observed ...

was conducted to verify the seven scales conceptualized in the test, no research results supported such findings. Additionally, the Hostility inventory also suffered from

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issues. These problems were rectified in the AQ. Several items in the AQ were taken from the Hostility inventory, and factor analysis on the items, which were tested on more than 1,000 college students, resulted in four factors. In 2000, the AQ underwent further development which expanded its factors into five, with indirect aggression as the addition. The number of items also greatly increased from the original 18 items. This new version has been validated on more than 2,000 people, including children and elderly.

Test format

Though the 2000 version of the AQ, which was developed by Arnold H. Buss and W. L. Warren exists, the 1992 version is still widely used. Below are the differences between the two tests.

Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (1992)

The 1992 version of the AQ is a 29-item

questionnaire A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of questions (or other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering information from respondents through survey or statistical study. A research questionnaire is typically a mix of ...

in which participants rank certain statements along a 5-point continuum from "extremely uncharacteristic of me" to "extremely characteristic of me". The scores are normalized on a scale of 0 to 1, with 1 being the highest level of aggression. It measures four factors: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility.

Buss-Warren Aggression Questionnaire (2000)

The 2000 version of the AQ consists of 34 items measuring five factors: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, hostility, and indirect aggression. It uses a 5-point Likert scale, just like the 1992 version, though the description of the response scales are changed into "not at all like me" and "completely like me".

Usage

The final version of the AQ is meant for usage in normal populations starting from the age of 9 until 88 years old. It has also been used in adults with mental illnesses. Several versions of the AQ has been validated for use in Japan,

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, China, and

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References

External links

Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire
– interactive online questionnaire at Psychology Tools {{DEFAULTSORT:Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire Personality disorders screening and assessment tools