Assessing Anger Expression: Construct Validity of Three Emotion Expression-Related Measures

Self-report measures of emotional expression are common, but their validity to predict objective emotional expression, particularly of anger, is unclear. We tested the validity of the Anger Expression Inventory (AEI; Spielberger et al., 1985 Spielberger, C. D., Johnson, E. H., Russell, S. F., Crane, R. J., Jacobs, G. A., & Wordern, T. J. (1985). The experience and expression of anger: Construction and validation of an anger expression scale. In M. A. Chesney & R. H. Rosenman (Eds.), Anger and hostility in cardiovascular and behavioral disorders (pp. 5–30). New York, NY: Hemisphere. [Google Scholar]), Emotional Approach Coping Scale (EAC; Stanton, Kirk, Cameron, & Danoff-Burg, 2000 Stanton, A. L., Kirk, S. B., Cameron, C. L., & Danoff-Burg, S. (2000). Coping through emotional approach: Scale construction and validation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 1150–1169. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.6.1150[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20; Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1994 Bagby, R. M., Taylor, G. J., & Parker, J. D. (1994). The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale-II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 38, 33–40. doi:10.1016/0022-3999(94)90006-X[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to predict objective anger expression in 95 adults with chronic back pain. Participants attempted to solve a difficult computer maze by following the directions of a confederate who treated them rudely and unjustly. Participants then expressed their feelings for 4 min. Blinded raters coded the videos for anger expression, and a software program analyzed expression transcripts for anger-related words. Analyses related each questionnaire to anger expression. The AEI Anger-Out scale predicted greater anger expression, as expected, but AEI Anger-In did not. The EAC Emotional Processing scale predicted less anger expression, but the EAC Emotional Expression scale was unrelated to anger expression. Finally, the TAS-20 predicted greater anger expression. Findings support the validity of the AEI Anger-Out scale but raise questions about the other measures. The assessment of emotional expression by self-report is complex and perhaps confounded by general emotional experience, the specificity or generality of the emotion(s) assessed, and self-awareness limitations. Performance-based or clinician-rated measures of emotion expression are needed.