The Vengeance Scale: Comparison of Groups and an Assessment of External Validity

Abstract

When the Vengeance Scale was developed, it was tested on 600 undergraduate students and showed high criterion validity and high construct validity; however, external validity was in question given the homogeneity of the group sampled. In the present study three groups—20 male and 48 female college students, 37 male and 5 female prison inmates, and 10 male and 3 female police officers—were involved in assessing external validity of the scale. We hypothesized inmates would score the highest with police officers and students ranking second and third, respectively. As predicted the inmates reported a significantly higher score than did the police officers and the students.