Structural Validity and Psychometric Properties of the Anger Rumination Scale in Spanish: An Analysis of Invariance by Gender, Age and Sample Type in A General Population and A Clinical Sample

Abstract

Background: Depressive rumination is considered to be a transdiagnostic construct of multiple emotional disorders, however, the role of anger rumination is less known. Methods: We present the structural validity of the Anger Rumination Scale (ARS) in two samples: a general population of N = 536 individuals (Mage = 29.9, SD= 12.6) with 59.4% were women and a clinical sample of N = 95 individuals (Mage = 43.3, SD= 12.7) with 68% were women. Results: An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) isolated three factors that explained 53.7% of the variance after rotation; a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated a good fit of the data to a model composed of three factors, which we called 1) angry memories (AM) (α = .90), 2) analysis of past anger events (APA) (α = .88), and 3) thoughts of revenge (TR) (α = .76). A multigroup CFA showed that the structural validity of the ARS had metric invariance by gender, age group (i.e., younger than 25 years vs. or older than 25 years) and sample type (i.e., community vs. clinical sample). As regards incremental validity, once depressive rumination was controlled for, angry memories and analysis of past anger events predicted anxiety and depression symptoms. Conclusions: Results are discussed according to the studies reviewed. We suggest that anger rumination and depressive rumination are repetitive processes that should be taken into account when assessing anxiety and mood disorders.