Objectives: The aim of this study is to validate the Malay version of the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) for the purpose of the future study related to aggression. Furthermore, the study seeks to identify types of aggression hold by the female inmates.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed involving 90 Malaysian female prisoners. The analyses include descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability testing. After one-week interval, a test-retest was conducted.
Results: The preliminary analysis confirmed that factor analysis was appropriate for the Malay-translated version of the AQ. The four factors structure was assessed but the factor loadings are remarkable different from the original versions. The total Cronbach's alpha coefficients is very high (α= 0.91). The Pearson's correlation however is low (r = 0.48) but acceptable for the instrument. Reliability of the subscales and the factors were also found satisfactory. Consequently, anger and hostility were identified as the most common types of aggression among the participants, followed by verbal aggression. In contrast, physical aggression was the least scored type of aggression.
Conclusion: The Malay-translated version of the AQ was found to be valid and reliable to be used in future studies.