Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory For Children & Teenagers

As an individual grows up, their needs for self-determination, ways of expressing emotions, and ways of achieving goals change. Children and adolescents' hostility and negative actions are often caused by the desire to stand out, to raise their status in the eyes of others, the inability to cooperate, or stress they have experienced.

The more the child suppresses their ambitions, desires, and resentments, the stronger the feelings of loneliness, negative perception of the world, and apathy become. Complete permissiveness generally leads to an increase in hostility and aggressiveness. Even for adults it can be hard to find a middle ground between an assertive pursuit of a goal and indecisiveness; for a child, choosing a behavior model and maintaining emotional control is much more difficult.

This test is a modified version of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory adapted by psychologist G. Zuckerman specifically to assess hostility levels in children and adolescents.

The results show how negatively the child perceives others' behavior, whether this generates resentment and anger, and how effectively they manage these emotions.