The Ayurvedic Anger Assessment Scale: An integrative approach for measuring anger in adults

The prevalence of psychosomatic disorders associated with emotional instability has risen considerably in recent years. Among the different negative emotions, anger stands out as the most intense and prototypical. When excessive and poorly regulated, it serves as a significant contributing factor in the pathogenesis of various psychosomatic disorders.

This study aims to develop and systematically validate an integrated Ayurvedic Anger Assessment Scale (AAAS) for the adult population based on Ayurvedic, Indian philosophical, and contemporary psychological concepts, and this manuscript discusses its psychometric validation.

An extensive literature review and expert consultations were conducted for item generation. A panel of 10 experts evaluated content and face validity. Subsequently, pre-testing was carried out with 15 healthy individuals to assess internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Construct validity was further assessed by administering the questionnaire to a sample of 105 individuals.

Content Validity Index (I-CVI) of the items ranged from 0.50 to 1.00. Given that the panel consisted of ten experts, a minimum acceptable CVI value of 0.78 was applied. Accordingly, seven items with CVI values below this threshold were excluded, and the Scale-level Content Validity Index (S-CVI) was subsequently calculated, yielding a value of 0.91. The Content Validity Ratio (CVR) across items ranged from 0.20 to 1.00. Reliability analysis demonstrated strong internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.944. Test-retest reliability, assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient, produced values ranging from 0.70 to 1.00 (p < 0.01) across all items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal component analysis extracted nine components with eigenvalues >1.

This scale adopts an integrative approach to assessing the intensity of expressed anger, including negative consequences in the form of anger rumination. The development and validation process has been comprehensive, with significant psychometric properties inspiring future researchers to undertake similar studies.