Anger Self-Report Questionnaire (ASR)
(Reynolds et al., 1994; Zelin et al., 1972 ).
Variable
The distinction between awareness of one’s angry/hostile feelings and the expression of aggression in one’s
behavior is an important one. Accordingly, the ASR focuses on measuring anger/hostility both in terms of one’s
awareness of anger and its behavioral expression ( Zelin et al., 1972 ). As Musante et al. (1989) pointed out, the
ASR was ‘explicitly designed to remove the confounding that previous anger/hostility inventories have made
between awareness of angry feelings and expression of hostility/anger in behavior’ (p. 346).
Description
In an item analysis of the original ASR ( N5138), Zelin et al. (1972) reduced the ASR item-pool from 89 items
down to 64 items (with removal of 25 filler items). The resultant subscales were labeled as follows: Awareness
of anger, Expression of anger (comprising General, Physical, and Verbal expression subscales), Guilt,
Condemnation of Anger, and Mistrust ( Zelin et al., 1972 ; cf.Matthews et al., 1985 ;Musante et al., 1989 ;Reynolds
et al., 1994 ). A 30-item short form is also available ( Reynolds et al., 1994 ).
Sample
The initial sample ( Zelin et al., 1972 ) comprised 138 individuals used for the item analysis of the 89-item ver-
sion of the ASR, followed by samples of 82 psychiatric patients and 67 undergraduates used for validating the
psychometric properties of the abbreviated 64-item version. Reynolds et al. (1994) administered both the 89-item
and 64-item versions to a sample of 246 undergraduate students (127 males; 119 females) ranging in age from
16 to 47 years. Norms for 30-item short form were derived from the responses of 101 male and 100 female under-
graduates (Reynolds et al., p. 64).
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Split-half coefficients for the ASR subscales ranged from .64 to .82 ( Zelin et al., 1972 ). More recently, Reynolds
et al. (1994) reported split-half coefficients for the Physical expression (.64) and General expression subscales
(.66), respectively), and that 39 out of the total 89 items correlated positively with total scores, ranging from .28 to
.66 (Reynolds et al., p. 66). While the KR 20coefficient was .85 for all 89 items ( N5246), those for the ASR sub-
scales were somewhat lower, as follows: General expression (.48), Mistrust (.57), Verbal expression of anger (.70),
and Awareness of anger (.79).
Test/C0Retest
Biaggio et al. (1981) reported two-week test /C0retest stability coefficients for the ASR subscales as follows:
Awareness (.54), General (.45), Physical (.63), Verbal (.35), Guilt (.28), Condemnation (.76), Mistrust (.53), and
ASR Total (.54).
Validity
Convergent/Concurrent
As evidence of convergent/concurrent validity, Biaggio (1980) reported that BDHI Total Hostility and ASR
Total Expression scores correlated positively (.64). Biaggio (p. 295) further pointed to the positive correlations
between the BDHI and ASR subscales (ranging from .28 to .78). Subsequently, Biaggio (1981, Table 1) reported
positive correlations between the ASR Total Expression scale and self-monitored incidents of Verbal expression
of anger (.38), and Physical expression of anger (.31). Likewise, Schill, Ramanaiah, and Conn (1990) reported
(N565) that ASR and BDHI scores correlated .60 (males) and .66 (females). Also, Reynolds et al. (1994, Table 1)
reported that two-thirds of the ASR subscale inter-correlations were significant ( p,.001).
Divergent/Discriminant
As evidence of divergent/discriminant validity, Zelin et al. (1972) , reported that, ‘A multi-trait, multi-method
analysis ...yielded substantial convergent and discriminant validities for the ASR scales ...Furthermore, aware-
ness lacked significant correlations with PAS scales reflecting the expression of anger, thereby demonstrating its81 MEASURES REVIEWED IN DETAIL
II. EMOTIONAL DISPOSITIONS