(ChIA) Children's Inventory of Anger

BY W. M. NELSON III, PHD, ABPP, AND A. J. FINCH, PHD, ABPP

Anger Triggers and Anger Intensity

Children’s anger, and their ability to cope with it, are of increasing concern to professionals working in school and clinical settings. This self-report inventory identifies the kinds of situations that provoke anger in particular children—as well as the intensity of their anger response. Yet it contains only 39 items and requires just 10 minutes to complete.   

Brief, quick, and inexpensive, the ChIA is one of the few instruments available that provides the child’s perspective on his or her own anger.

Designed for 6- through 16-year-olds, the ChIA produces a Total Score, an Inconsistent Responding Index, and four subscale scores:

Frustration

Physical Aggression

Peer Relationships

Authority Relations

Results are expressed as age-stratified standard scores based on a nationally representative sample of more than 1,600 youngsters between 6 and 16.

A Kid-Friendly Test Form

Test items are written at a third-grade reading level. (They can be read aloud to young children or those who are poor readers.) Response options are keyed to drawings of four faces, with expressions ranging from happy to furious. The child simply marks the option that shows how angry he or she would be in the circumstances described. This response format seems to help children differentiate degrees of anger.

The test can be hand-scored in less than a minute. A CD is available for users who prefer computer scoring.

Efficient and cost-effective, the ChIA is ideal any time you need a quick assessment of children’s anger. It is highly useful in youth programs, in clinical interventions aimed at anger control, and in systematic efforts to assess children’s anger. Because it measures the subjective experience of anger, the ChIA is helpful in treatment planning and program evaluation. It has proven especially useful in measuring change following anger management interventions.