Advanced anger assessment using the
State Trait Anger Expression Inventory - 2, Child/Adolescent Version (STAXI-2™ C/A)

School	Clinical
Forensic	Medical

Published by: Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR)

Authors: Thomas M. Brunner, PhD & Charles D. Spielberger, PhD

Dr. Brunner's Resume		Dr. Spielberger's Resume

We welcome researcher collaboration. We are currently working with researchers from the United States, Canada, South America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.  A free sample test form is available by emailing Dr. Brunner at solutions@doctorbrunner.com. This measure was created via the teamwork of Dr. Brunner, an expert in developmental and assessment issues, and Dr. Spielberger, an internationally recognized expert in self-report
assessment, cross-cultural assessment, and personality assessment.

Anger has been vastly understudied, and yet is one of the dominant problems in the 21st century.  Anger is one of the most common reasons a child or adolescent is referred in school, clinical, medical, and forensic settings (Brunner & Spielberger, 2009).  Anger is a fundamental, yet complex emotion comprised of many facets that must be understood to fully grasp an individual’s “anger profile”. Anger is often mistakenly confused with similar concepts such as hostility and aggression, but this measure helps to clearly distinguish these concepts via clear definitions and applications.

The STAXI-2 C/A comprehensively yet concisely assesses the experience, expression, and control of anger while accounting for state and trait aspects of anger in 9-18 year olds.  Click here for an overview of the STAXI-2 C/A scales and subscales.

The STAXI-2 C/A uses a set of empirically validated concepts that are based on over 35 years of anger research pioneered by Dr. Spielberger, one of the world’s foremost authorities on psychological assessment.  The STAXI-2 C/A is based on the adult version of the instrument, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2).  The STAXI-2 is one of the most widely used measures of anger in the world (e.g., used in over 1000 studies), due to its psychometric soundness, clinical utility, and its cross-cultural conceptual and psychometric durability (e.g., the STAXI-2 has been translated into over 27 languages).

Our measure is currently being used here in the U.S. (e.g., in a Center for Disease Control Study), as well as internationally by those adapting our measure into their home language.  Also of note, Dr. Brunner recently (2010) authored a chapter in a book (in press) edited by Dr. Nancy Mather, a renowned expert in comprehensive assessment.  This chapter articulates how anger is often a significant but subtle contributor to common problems like ADHD, Anxiety, Asperger’s, and learning disabilities.

More detailed information is available by clicking on any of the following, or by scrolling down to the bullet point list of applications for the STAXI-2 C/A:   

• STAXI-2 C/A Overview (PowerPoint)
• Overview of the STAXI-2 C/A Scales and Subscales (PDF)
• Sample STAXI-2 C/A psychological report (PowerPoint)
• The STAXI-2 C/A Professional Manual Table of Contents (PDF)

The STAXI-2 C/A is a measure that is being used across school, clinical, forensic, and medical settings, due to its unique qualities, including the following:

• Written at a 4th-grade reading level, the STAXI-2 C/A Rating Booklet is tailored for use by children and adolescents.
• Reflects the 2007 U.S. Census population parameters via a post-stratification weighting procedure that was applied to the STAXI-2 C/A normative sample of 838 public school children and adolescents from several states.
• Distinguishes temporary anger states from more trait-like or enduring conditions (e.g., whether a temper tantrum is a hallmark of a personality trait vs. a transient state-like event).
• Enhances the ability to assess and diagnose the spectrum of conditions in which anger intensity as an emotional state is important (e.g., bipolar disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, reactive attachment disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder).
• Assesses the degree to which a child reacts only to specific negative events or more generally responds to diverse environmental events.
• Assesses a child's habitual anger coping style as either externalizing or internalizing (i.e., suppressive).
• Assists in the determination of whether key aspects of a child's anger profile may be related to problems with his or her health status (e.g., problems exacerbated by intense and/or frequent anger suppression).
• Provides raw score to percentile and T-score conversions for the STAXI-2 C/A scales and subscales for both the total normative sample and the six normative age-by-gender groups.
• Presents discriminant and convergent validity based on correlations with the Achenbach Youth Self-Report (YSR)
  DSM-Oriented and Syndrome scales for a subset of the normative sample and a clinical sample.
• May be used as part of the diagnostic process, as a tool for monitoring the long-term effects anger may have on children and adolescents, and as a complement to threat assessment measures and procedures in a variety of settings.