The Metacognitive Anger Processing (MAP) Scale - Validation in a Mixed Clinical and a Forensic In-Patient Sample

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• The metacognitive model offers a framework for understanding various psychological symptoms.
• The Metacognitive Anger Processing (MAP) scale was developed to assess anger through a metacognitive lens.
• Preliminary validation identified positive beliefs, negative beliefs, and rumination as key components correlated with anger.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the Metacognitive Anger Processing (MAP) scale.
• To assess the MAP's psychometric properties in mixed clinical and male forensic patient samples.

Main Methods:

• The MAP scale was administered to 88 mixed clinical patients and 54 male forensic patients.
• Participants also completed measures of general metacognition, anger, rumination, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

Main Results:

• The MAP demonstrated acceptable scalability and excellent reliability.
• Convergent validity was supported by the metacognitive questionnaire (MCQ-30).
• Concurrent validity was evidenced by correlations with the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) and the Novaco Anger Scale (NAS).

Conclusions:

• The MAP scale shows potential for assessing anger regulation problems, particularly angry rumination and underlying belief structures.
• Findings support the metacognitive model's view of anger processing.
• The results suggest implications for clinical interventions targeting thinking styles in anger dysregulation.