Translation and Validation of Aggression Questionnaire in a Pakistani Children Cohort

Aggression is traditionally termed as a behavioral act that results in harming others intentionally or hurting them. Aggression can either be direct or indirect, reactive or proactive, physical, verbal or relation depending on the situation (Werner & Crick, 2004). An integrative explanatory model for aggression is proposed by Anderson and Bushman (2002) that situational and environmental factors interact with personal, emotional and cognitive aspects. A standout amongst the most utilized instruments for its study is the development of Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) by Buss and Perry (1992), which includes 29 items assembled into four factors: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility. The initial two factors symbolize the active component. Anger triggers physiological and emotional component, while hostility involves feelings of opposition and injustice thus representing the cognitive component. Apparently, uncontrolled feelings of anger evolve perception of injustice and creates a bridge between cognitive and active component such as hostility and cynicism (Marten, Watson, & Wan, 2000). Regarding the validation of the original Aggression Questionnaire by Buss and Perry, 29 items were extracted with four factor solution from exploratory factor analysis using OBLIMIN rotation namely Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger and Hostility on a sample of 1253 participants, later confirmatory factor analysis on second and third sample confirmed the four factor solution. The internal consistency of the four factors were Physical Aggression α = . 85, verbal Aggression α = . 72, Anger α = . 83 and Hostility α = . 77 (Buss & Perry, 1992). He concluded results on the basis of his original study on measuring aggression in adolescents that male participants were more aggressive than females on a total scale and especially on physical aggression, whereas no significant results were concluded for anger in terms of gender differences. In the same direction, minor but significant differences were observed on verbal aggression and hostility subscales.The AQ is validated in several countries and translated in several languages, the results of many studies on English speaking and non-speaking participants indicated four factor solution of AQ. Whereas, some studies suggested changes in the item composition because of language and cultural biases. Some researchers are in the support of discarding few items for better fit of the four factor solution, Nakano (2001) conducted a study on Japanese participants and Harris (1995) discarded two items from the scale for better fit of the model. Similarly, Meesters, Muris, Bosma, Schouten, and Beuving in 1996 suggested elimination of three items; one item from verbal aggression and two from hostility on a sample of Dutch for better fit of the original model.One of the research in support of the four factor solution and in terms of internal consistency and construct validity was conducted in Spain by Garcia-Leon et al., 2002; Rodriguez, Pena, and Grana, 2002. Another study conducted in Germany support the originally postulated four factor solution and concluded highly satisfactory psychometric properties of AQ as internally consistent and validated through concurrent and construct validity (von Collani, & Werner, 2005). In line of the previous studies, a French Version of AQ was translated in Canada by Bouchard in 2007; he supported the internal consistency of the scale through test re-test reliability and the criterion and construct validity. He also confirmed the four factor solution of the AQ. Whereas, another study conducted in Spain suggested the elimination of two items from the scale for better fit of the four factor model of AQ (Sierra, & Gutierrez, 2007). A study in southern Italy revealed a little change in results of validation study of AQ on a sample of 860 students; he proposed three factor solutions after confirmatory factor analysis instead of four factors; Physical Aggression, Hostility and "Inability to verbalize anger" (Sommantico, Osorio, Parello, De Rosa, & Donezetti, 2008). …