Validation of the Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA) with a Mexican sample

Abstract

The Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA) is a self-report measure that assesses the level of anger experienced by children and youth. Anger is a significant predictor of aggression, peer relationships difficulties and antisocial behavior; therefore, is crucial to have a valid and reliable measure to evaluate it. The purpose of this study was to validate the ChIA for the Mexican children (ChIA-M). Participants were 638 students (M = 9.8 years; SD = 1.51), 49% were females from primary and secondary Mexican public schools. The exploratory factor analysis supported the four-factor structure with a shared variance of 47.60%, but a different distribution of items. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated the model to be an acceptable fit with the data χ 2 (338) = 1089.75, p ≤ .001, NFI = .82; IFI = .907, CFI = .906, RMSEA = .047. Good internal consistency was obtained for Total score α = .94 and subscales: Frustration α = .90, Aggression α = .88 , Peer Relationships α = .76 and Authority Relations α = .81. Convergent and divergent validity was supported through positive and significant correlations with the Anger Inventory for Mexican Children and the negligible correlations with the Children Questionnaire of Positive Emotions. Results suggest that the Spanish version of the ChIA for Mexican population is a valid and reliable measure of child anger. However, attention should be paid to the cultural differences related to the experience of anger. Further research should continue evaluating the ChIA with clinical samples and children from different ages and regions in Mexico