Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Dec 19, 2021; 11(12): 1288-1300
Published online Dec 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i12.1288
Validity and reliability of the Dutch version of the displaced aggression questionnaire
Danique Smeijers, Thomas F Denson, Erik H Bulten, Inti A Brazil
Danique Smeijers, Erik H Bulten, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 HR, The Netherlands
Danique Smeijers, Erik H Bulten, Inti A Brazil, Pompestichting, Nijmegen 6532 CN, The Netherlands
Thomas F Denson, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Inti A Brazil, Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen 6525 GD, The Netherlands
Author contributions: Smeijers D and Brazil IA translated the original DAQ to Dutch; The back-translation was evaluated by Denson TF; Smeijers D wrote the first draft of the manuscript; Brazil IA and Denson TF contributed significantly to the next versions of the manuscript; Bulten EH reviewed the manuscript; all authors approved its publication.
Institutional review board statement: The current study was approved by the institutional review board, No. ECSW2017-2306-520.
Conflict-of-interest statement: On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: The statistical code and dataset are available from the corresponding author. Consent was not obtained for data sharing but the presented data are anonymized.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Inti A Brazil, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Thomas van Aquinostraat 4, Nijmegen 6525 GD, The Netherlands. i.brazil@donders.ru.nl
Received: April 26, 2021
Peer-review started: April 26, 2021
First decision: June 17, 2021
Revised: June 29, 2021
Accepted: November 5, 2021
Article in press: November 5, 2021
Published online: December 19, 2021
Processing time: 233 Days and 0.1 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Displaced aggression occurs when a person encounters a provoking situation, is unable or unwilling to retaliate against the original provocateur, and subsequently aggresses against a target that is not the source of the initial provocation. Trait displaced aggression consists of three dimensions: Angry rumination, revenge planning, and behavioral displaced aggression. The displaced aggression questionnaire (DAQ) was developed to measure individual differences in the tendency to displace aggression. Previous studies, however, did not explore any associations with other clinically relevant characteristics.

Research motivation

Elucidating the association between trait displaced aggression, social anxiety, and cognitive distortions will further increase our understanding of the mechanism of trait displaced aggression.

Research objectives

The current study developed a Dutch version of the DAQ and examined relationships between the DAQ and novel individual differences.

Research methods

A sample of undergraduate students (n = 413) participated in the current study. The DAQ was translated using a back-translation procedure. Subsequently, the Dutch DAQ, aggression questionnaire, How I think questionnaire, State-Trait Anger Scale, Novaco Anger Scale-Provocation Inventory, Barratt Impulsivity Scale, Ten-Item Personality Inventory, and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale were administered in an online survey.

Research results

The results confirmed the original three-factor structure and showed good reliability and validity. We also found differential relationships between trait displaced aggression, social anxiety and cognitive distortions.

Research conclusions

The results encourage the use of the Dutch version of the DAQ to measure individual differences in trait displaced aggression. The results might indicate that distinct patterns exist in the development of the different dimensions of trait displaced aggression. This study adds to the growing cross-cultural literature showing the robustness of trait displaced aggression in several different cultures.

Research perspectives

Once the current findings are confirmed in aggressive samples, an important next step would be to investigate whether currently used general aggression interventions also reduce anger rumination, revenge planning, and behavioral displaced aggression.