The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI and STAXI-II) are self-
report questionnaires used to assess an individual's state and trait anger
levels, as well as their anger expression. The STAXI-II Police and Public
Safety Selection Report is a specialized version of the assessment, designed
to help evaluators assess tendencies toward anger that may be relevant to
performance as a public safety officer. The report includes customized
comparison group profiles, graphically depicted scale profiles, and other
features to facilitate the job of the screening psychologist.
Key Points
The STAXI and STAXI-II Assessments
The STAXI is a self-report questionnaire that measures both current (state)
anger and generally characteristic (trait) anger levels.
The STAXI-II is an updated version of the STAXI that uses a subset of items
from the original and includes revised scales.
The STAXI-II also has a new normative sample that was matched to U.S.
Census demographics.
The STAXI Police and Public Safety Selection Report
This specialized report is designed for use by licensed psychologists in
conducting psychological evaluations of applicants for police and other public
safety positions.
The report is based on a normative sample of more than 10,000 public safety
job applicants.
It supplements the basic STAXI report with T-scores based on norms for
public safety job applicants, allowing the applicant's test scores to be
compared to those of other public safety applicants.
The report also contains a list of individual item responses made by the
applicant that specifically indicate anger, and the percent of all police and
public safety applicants that endorsed the item in a similar way.
The Upcoming STAXI-II Police and Public Safety Selection Report
JRA has developed a new selection report based on the STAXI-II instrument.
Since the original STAXI-PPSR was released 20 years ago, JRA has
accumulated a much larger dataset of over 100,000 public safety applicant
records.
This expanded public safety dataset allowed JRA to create customized
comparison group profiles for applicants to five different public safety job
classes: Police/Deputy/Trooper, Corrections, Dispatcher/Communications,
Fire, and Probation.
The new report includes several new features, such as graphically depicted
scale profiles, percentiles based on the comparison group for the job the
applicant is applying to, a refined list of selection relevant items, and revised
thresholds for displaying interpretive data utilizing the newly added percentile
data.
STAXI - JRA, INC. (2025). [Link]
Summary
The article provides a psychometric critique of the State-Trait Anger
Expression Inventory-II (STAXI-II), a widely used assessment tool for
measuring the experience, expression, and control of anger in research and
clinical settings. The authors found that the STAXI-II has satisfactory
psychometric properties when used with forensic populations, but highlighted
gaps in research and practical issues that need to be addressed, such as the
lack of an inherent validity scale and the need to control for social desirability
responding.
Key Points
Psychometric Properties of the STAXI-II in Forensic Populations
The STAXI-II has satisfactory psychometric properties, including reliability and
validity, when used with forensic samples.
The STAXI-II provides a comprehensive measure of anger, but does not
capture all aspects of the construct.
Practical Implications and Limitations
The STAXI-II does not contain an inherent validity scale, indicating the need
to control for social desirability responding when administering the tool.
Practical implications and limitations of using the STAXI-II in forensic settings
need to be considered.
Future Research Directions
Further research is needed to address the gaps identified in the use of the
STAXI-II with forensic populations.
Exploring additional aspects of anger and developing new assessment tools
may be beneficial for a more comprehensive understanding of anger in
forensic contexts.
Sara Schamborg, Ruth J. Tully, and Kevin D. Browne. “The Use of the State-Trait Anger
Expression Inventory-II ... - PubMed.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and
Comparative Criminology, April 21, 2015. [Link]
Description
The STAXI-2 (Spielberger, 1999) which is purported to measure the
experience, expression, and control of anger, consists of 57 items, 6
scales, 5 subscales, and an Anger Expression Index (total anger
expression) (cf. Spielberger & Reheiser, 2009). The State Anger scale (15
items) measures anger intensity as a momentary emotional state, while
the Trait Anger scale (10 items) measures the disposition to experience
angry feelings as a personality-like trait over lengthy time periods (i.e.,
the individual’s disposition to become angry or angry temperament). The
Anger Expression scale (16 items) and the Anger Control scale (16 items)
measure four anger-related trait dimensions. As Vagg and Spielberger
(2000) in their Interpretive report indicated, the Anger Expression-In
scale measures the extent to which an individual ‘holds things in’ or
suppresses anger, whereas the Anger Expression-Out scale measures the
actual expression of aggression. Concomitantly, the Anger Control-In
scale measures the extent to which an individual controls the expression
of anger through attempts at relaxation and ‘calming down’, whereas the
Anger Control-Out scale measures the extent to which an individual
actively monitors and limits the overt expression of anger. ‘Scales
include: State Anger, Trait Anger, Anger Expression-Out, Anger
Expression-In, Anger Control-Out, Anger Control-In, and Anger
Expression Index.’ Ratings of items are on a 4-point response scales that
measure state anger (intensity) as well as trait anger (frequency).
[Link]
inventory
