Measuring aggression in the South Asian context: the development and psychometric assessment of the Urdu aggression questionnaire

Purpose Aggression is an undesirable behavior that assaults traditions norms, morals and standards of ethics practiced in society. To address the scarceness of identification tools and for evidence-based interventions in Pakistan, the purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which aggression is prevalent in Pakistan’s people by newly developed self-reported questionnaires in the Urdu language designed after reviewing the cultural and social perspectives of the society. Design/methodology/approach The research design was based on principles of scale development followed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. A subject matter expert panel technique was adopted where educationists from diversified backgrounds helped to generate items and to establish content validity. Findings The three-factor construct has been supported by factor analysis. These analyzes identified aggression measures in terms of direct aggression, displaced aggression and indirect aggression. The model has established inner consistency, reliability and validity. Furthermore, the impact of age and gender on different forms of aggression was explored and discussed. Originality/value Aggression is a distinctive trait of many psychiatric disturbances. To undertake the dearth of identification tools and for evidence-based interventions in Pakistan, it was necessary to develop a tool for identification to address aggression issues among common people. This research is devised to develop a self-reported questionnaire in the Urdu language keeping cultural and social perspectives of society.