1. Healthy Controls vs. Children Referred for Aggression
in ChIA sibling Anger Items
The ChIA Distribution of Answers
Correlations: Parent and Child Reports and Siblings
Methods
Participants
• Only 2 participants did not have siblings – one from each group
Design
• Participants between ages of 8 and 16 included in analysis were part of a study
examining success of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) to treat anger in
children referred for aggressive behavior
• Parent reports and child self-reports
Data Analytic Plan
• Analyze reliability of ChIA items examining anger directed towards siblings
• Analyze distribution of answers to ChIA
• T-test to compare means across two groups (controls and children referred for
aggression)
• Correlations to test various relationships between presence of siblings and
parent and child reports of aggression
Measures
Sibling Aggression and the Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA)
Anna Grishaw, B.A., Megan E. Tudor, Ph.D., Emilie J. Bertschinger, B.A, & Denis G. Sukhodolsky, Ph.D.
Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine
Introduction
Sibling Aggression
• Sibling aggression is highly prevalent but not focused on (Duncan, 1999)
• However, it is unique from other forms of childhood aggression presence of
siblings may escalate physical aggression impacting social and emotional
development and family functioning (Tudor et. Al., under review)
• Presence of a sibling has largest impact on level of physical aggression during
early childhood (few studies have focused on this issue) (Tremblay et al., 2004)
• Sibling conflict should be more targeted research on sibling aggression by
researchers and clinicians (Tremblay et al., 2004)
• No measures of a completely sibling-focused subscale of behavior (Tudor et al., under
review)
ChIA
• The Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA) has 39 items
• Presents hypothetical anger-provoking situations and asks children to rate the
intensity of their anger on a scale from 1 to 5 (Nelson & Finch, 2000)
1: “I don’t care. That situation doesn’t even bother me.”
2: “that bothers me”
3: “I am really angry or mad”
4: “I can’t stand that! I’m furious”
• Higher scores are associated with higher levels of aggressive behavior
• Has four items that measure anger directed at siblings
Hypothesis
• Children referred for aggression compared to healthy controls will score higher
on the four ChIA sibling items for anger and aggresssion
• Also will score higher on other measures relating to aggression
Figure 2. Group mean differences on ChIA sibling items. ** p < .01
Study Aims
• Examine 4 items of the ChIA to create a subscale to examine anger directed
towards siblings
• Examine anger and aggression between
• See if there are any correlations between various measures of anger and
aggression and ChIA items and presence of siblings
• Item 5 made children the most angry
• Item 38 did not bother most children
Item 3: Your brother or sister or
friend ignores you
Item 5: You have a job to do that your
brother or sister was supposed to do
Item 19: Your brother or sister says
“No” when you ask for something
Item 38: You have to do your HW and
your brother or sister gets to watch TV
n = 73
n = 42
Referred for anger and aggression
31 males, 12 females; age M = 12.11, SD = 2.29
n = 30
Healthy controls (children without psychiatric diagnoses)
23 males, 7 females; age M = 12.93, SD = 2.06
Number of Siblings Number of Other Children
Living with Participant
ChIA total score .139 .103
ChIA sibling items .154 .142
CBCL Aggressive behavior total score .249 * -.02
APSD callous and unemotional total .245 * .277 *
RPQ reactive total .299 * .103
RPQ proactive total .308 * .047
*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
• Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL): asses behavioral and emotional problems
including aggressive behavior (Achenbach, 1991)
• Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA) (Nelson & Finch, 2000)
• Antisocial process screening device (APSD): rating scale assesses traits
associated with the construct of psychopathy in youths (Frick et al., 2001)
• Reactive-proactive aggression questionnaire (RPQ): asses proactive
(instrumental or organized) and reactive (emotionally motivated) aggression
(Raine et al., 2006)
Discussion
The ChIA and Reliability
• Children referred for anger and aggression displayed increased anger towards siblings
compared to healthy controls
• Sibling items on ChIA appear reliable
• Increased reliability in the measure without Item 3, which states “a sibling or a friend ignores you”
• This is the only question of the four ChIA items examined, which implicates a scenario with
someone who is not a sibling
Siblings and parent and child self-report
• ChIA items looking at aggression between siblings had no significant correlations with number of
siblings
• Lack of correlations with ChIA sibling items and total score imply sibling aggression may be
distinct from the other measures of anger and aggression
Future Directions
• Increase the sample-size; there were not many children who did not have siblings in the study
• Develop sibling specific measures for instance adapting the ChIA and adding sibling-focused
hypothetical scenarios
• Conduct future studies examining sibling aggression in children referred for anger and healthy
controls
Implications
• Most participants had one or more siblings – indicates the possibility that children with
aggressive pre-dispositions are more prone to anger at their siblings
• Sibling aggression deserves special consideration
• Greater focus on both the creation of measures and treatment programs focused on sibling
aggression
Reliability of the Sibling Items ChIA
• Fair reliability of the four sibling items in the ChIA ( = .685)
• Indicates these four items group together and measure sibling aggression
• If exclude ChIA item 3 “your brother or sister or friend ignores you” reliability is in the increases
further into the acceptable range ( = .724)
• Higher self-reports of sibling
aggression in the children who were
referred for aggressive behavior
compared to healthy controls (t(71)
= 2.94, p = .004)
References
Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and 1991 profile (p. 288). Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Duncan, R. D. (1999). Peer and sibling aggression: An investigation of intra-and extra-familial bullying. Journal of interpersonal violence, 14(8), 871-886.
Frick, P. J., & Hare, R. D. (2001). Antisocial process screening device: APSD. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.
Nelson, W. M., & Finch, A. J. (2000). Children's Inventory of Anger: ChIA Manual. Western Psychological Services.
Raine, A., Dodge, K., Loeber, R., Gatzke‐Kopp, L., Lynam, D., Reynolds, C., ... & Liu, J. (2006). The reactive–proactive aggression questionnaire: Differential correlates of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent boys. Aggressive behavior, 32(2), 159-171.
Tremblay, R. E., Nagin, D. S., Seguin, J. R., Zoccolillo, M., Zelazo, P. D., Boivin, M., ... & Japel, C. (2004). Physical aggression during early childhood: Trajectories and predictors. Pediatrics, 114(1), e43-e50.
Tudor, M. E., Ibrahim, K., Bertschinger, E. J., Bagot, K., Piasecka, J., & Sukhodolsky, D. G. (under review). Phenomenology, Assessment, and Treatment of Sibling Aggression: A Clinical Review