A hostility scale for the California Psychological Inventory: MMPI, observer Q-sort, and big-five correlates

Using two samples, we developed and validated a hostility scale that can be scored from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and serves as an alternate for the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (Ho; Cook & Medley, 1954). The CPI Hostility (H) scale consists of 33 items that are either duplicates or close equivalents of specific Ho items, and the two scales correlate at least .90 in samples differing in sex. The H and Ho scales show a similar pattern of correlations with conceptually relevant MMPI scales and with observer-rated personality attributes tapping Barefoot, Peterson, et al.'s (1991) five hostility categories of Hostile Affect, Cynicism, Aggressive Responding, Social Avoidance, and Hostile Attributions. These findings provide evidence for the equivalence of the two hostility scales, as well as external validation for those personality characteristics that are purported to underlie the construct of hostility as tapped by both the original Ho scale and the new CPI H scale.