Validity of Proxy-Based Reports of Impulsivity and Aggression in Chinese Research on Suicidal Behavior
Abstract
Background: In studies about the risk factors for suicidal behavior, the assessment of impulsiveness and aggression often depend on information from proxy informants. Aims: To assess the validity of proxy informants’ reports on impulsiveness and aggression in China. Methods: Modified Chinese versions of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-CV) and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ-CV) were administered to 131 suicide attempters treated at a hospital in rural China, to coresident relatives about the attempters, to 131 matched community controls, and to coresident relatives about the controls. Results: BIS-CV and AQ-CV total scores and subscale scores were all significantly higher for suicide attempters than for matched controls. Proxy informants considered subjects slightly more impulsive and aggressive than the subjects reported themselves. Subject-proxy concordance for total BIS-CV and AQ-CV scores were excellent for both attempters and controls (ICCs = 0.76–0.83). Concordance for the three BIS-CV subscales was 0.74–0.81 for attempters and 0.74–0.83 for controls. Concordance for the five AQ-CV subscales was 0.66–0.85 for attempters and 0.56–0.82 for controls. Limitations: Results are based on respondents from a single location in rural China. Conclusions: The results support the validity of the BIS-CV and AQ-CV and of research on suicidal behavior in China that uses proxy-based reports of impulsiveness and aggression.
References
1995). Self-reported physical aggression among young men. Aggressive Behavior, 21, 325–342.
(1959). Anxiety and impulsiveness related to psychomotor efficiency. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 9, 191–198.
(1974). Development of suicidal intent scales. In , The prediction of suicide (pp. 45–56). Bowie, MD: Charles Press.
(1997). On the dimensionality of the Buss/Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Behavior Research and Therapy, 35, 563–568.
(1990). Psychological autopsies: Methods and ethics. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 20, 307–323.
(2006). Personality traits as correlates of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide completion: A systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 113, 180–206.
(2001). Refining the architecture of aggression: A measurement model for the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, 138–167.
(1957). An inventory for assessing different kinds of hostility. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 2, 343–349.
(1992). The aggression questionnaire. Journal of Personality Social Psychology, 63, 452–459.
(1994). Guidelines, criteria, and rules of thumb for evaluating normed and standardized assessment instruments in psychology. Psychological Assessment, 6, 284–290.
(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2001). The validity of proxy-based data in suicide research: A study of patients 50 years of age and older who attempted suicide. II. Life events, social support and suicidal behavior. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 104, 452–457.
(2001). The validity of proxy-based data in suicide research: A study of patients 50 years of age and older who attempted suicide. I. Psychiatric diagnoses. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 104, 204–209.
(2001). Psychological vulnerability to completed suicide: A review of empirical studies. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 31, 367–385.
(2004). Laboratory measured behavioral impulsivity relates to suicide attempt history. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 34, 374–385.
(2005). Risk factors for suicide completion in major depression: A case-control study of impulsive and aggressive behaviors in men. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 2116–2124.
(2002). Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV-TR axis I disorders. New York: Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute.
(2002). Alcohol-related aggression in men and women: The influence of dispositional aggressivity. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 696–708.
(1997). A further evaluation of the Aggression Questionnaire: Issues of validity and reliability. Behavior Research and Therapy, 35, 1047–1053.
(1998). The psychological autopsy approach to studying suicide: A review of methodological issues. Journal of Affective Disorders, 50, 269–276.
(2007). Research methods in suicide and suicide prevention. In , Epidemiological field research methods for injuries (pp. 143–218). Beijing: Peoples Health Publishing House (in Chinese).
(2003). Comparison of impulsive and nonimpulsive attempted suicide. Chinese Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 29, 27–31. (in Chinese).
(2008). Study on the validity of a suicide-specific life event scale and suicidal behavior. Chinese Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 34, 156–160. (in Chinese).
(2007). Development and preliminary validation of a Chinese version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire in a population of Hong Kong Chinese. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88, 284–94.
(2008). Impulsive-aggressive behaviors and completed suicide across the life cycle: A predisposition for younger age of suicide. Psychological Medicine, 38, 407–417.
(1995). Factor structure of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 768–774.
(2002). Risk factor for suicide in China: A national case-control psychological autopsy study. Lancet, 360, 1728–1736.
(2004). Concordance of DSM-IV Axis I and II diagnoses by personal and informant’s interview. Psychiatry Research, 127, 121–136.
(1996). Factor structure and convergent validity of the Aggression Questionnaire in an offender population. Psychological Assessment, 8, 398–403.
(2007). An examination of the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, 11th version in a sample of Chinese adolescents. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 104, 1169–1182.
(1999). Biostatistical analysis (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: USA Prentice-Hall.
(2003). Studying Chinese suicide with proxy-based data: Reliability and validity of the methodology and instruments in China. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 450–457.
(