Assessing Negative Attributions After Brain Injury With the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: (1) To explore the construct validity of the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) in participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI) (ie, confirm negative attributions are associated with anger and aggression); and (2) use the AIHQ to examine negative attribution differences between participants with and without TBI. SETTING: Two rehabilitation hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-five adults with TBI and 86 healthy controls (HCs). DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. MAIN MEASURES: The AIHQ, a measure of negative attributions (intent, hostility, and blame), anger, and aggressive responses to hypothetical scenarios. RESULTS: Attributions were significantly correlated with anticipated anger and aggressive responses to AIHQ scenarios. Compared with HCs, participants with TBI reported stronger negative attributions (P ≤ .001), anger (P = .021), and aggressive responses (P = .002) to the scenarios. CONCLUSION: Negative attributions were associated with anger and aggression responses, demonstrating construct validity of the AIHQ in the TBI population. Participants with TBI judged others' behaviors more severely than HCs, similar to prior research using a different attribution measure. The AIHQ has promise as a practical instrument for assessing negative attributions after TBI.