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The reliability and validity of reported exposure to significant trauma is critical to research evaluating outcomes following serious and distressing life events. The current study examined the reliability of reported exposure to disaster, fire, transportation accidents, physical assault, and sexual assault across 5- (N = 251), 12- (N = 223), and 24-month (N = 109) intervals in undergraduates completing a screening measure of probable trauma (N = 3,045). Concordance with later responses to an alternate checklist and events assessed via clinical interview was examined in a subset of participants (N = 274). Five-month reliabilities ranged from good to fair (κ = .40-.71) and were similar to 1-2 week retest estimates in the extant literature. Reliabilities for fire, accidents, and sexual assault remained stable over 12- and 24-month intervals. Coefficients for disaster and physical assault decreased over time. Agreement with the alternate checklist was fair to excellent in those completing the follow-up assessment (κ = .51-.87). Concordance with interview-based trauma was acceptable for accidents (κ = .52) and sexual violence (κ = .82) but poor for disaster, fire, and physical assault (κ = .34-.38). Specificity, negative predictive power, and negative likelihood ratios suggest checklists may hold utility in ruling out previous trauma. Sensitivities indicate that screening instruments may broadly capture individuals experiencing traumatic life events although positive predictive power was limited except in the prediction of traffic accidents and sexual assault. Variability across domains suggests that the properties of checklist measures could be better conceptualized at the level of individual exposure events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Retrospective recall-based measures administered to adults, like the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), are commonly used to determine experiences of childhood trauma in the home. However, the CTQ has not been compared with prospective measures of childhood violence exposure, whether at home or in the community. We evaluated the relationships between young adults' responses to the CTQ and their prospective self-reports of exposure to violence in childhood and adolescence. Participants were 127 (93% African American, 47% male) urban young adults in a longitudinal birth cohort study examining effects of prenatal substance exposure and environmental factors on development. Participants completed the Violence Exposure Scale for Children-Revised (VEX-R), a 21-item self-report measure of experience of/witness to interpersonal violence, administered face to face at 9, 10, and 11 years using cartoon pictures, and via audio-computer assisted self-interview at 12, 14, and 16 years. Participants also completed the CTQ, a 28-item, 5-scale screening measure, during a young-adult follow-up (ages 18-23). Using Pearson Correlation coefficients, VEX-R total scores significantly correlated with the sum of CTQ scales, r = .33, p < .01, and 3 (physical, emotional, and sexual abuse) of the 5 CTQ subscales, showing a moderate linear association. This study suggests that the CTQ serves as a reasonable retrospective assessment of prospectively ascertained childhood trauma exposure. The differences may be accounted for by disparities in domains assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

Recent immigration trends indicate that the United States is home to a remarkably diverse and rapidly growing population of displaced persons. Many of these individuals have survived exceptional trauma and are thus particularly vulnerable to trauma-related behavioral health disorders. Mental health professionals are commonly asked to assess immigrants within this population in the service of immigration court decision making. These assessments present a variety of challenges for clinicians, including the assessment and documentation of trauma-related symptoms across cultural bounds. The Trauma Symptom Inventory-2 (TSI-2) may be uniquely suited to the demands of immigration court assessments, but it has not been previously examined in a culturally diverse sample. The current study provided an examination of the TSI-2 within a sample of immigrants with histories of trauma. De-identified TSI-2 data were drawn from several clinicians' existing immigration assessment files. Reliability and standardization sample comparison results indicated that the TSI-2 exhibits sufficient internal consistency within this population, and that immigrants with histories of trauma generally respond similarly to individuals in trauma-specific clinical samples (with several notable exceptions). Specific clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Trauma exposure is a precursor to a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A dearth of empirical evidence exists on the impact of different measurement practices on estimates of trauma exposure and PTSD within representative epidemiological samples. In the present study, we examined differences in reported trauma exposure and rates of PTSD using single, open-ended question versus list-based trauma assessments in a general community sample. Using data from the third wave of the Montreal epidemiological catchment area study (N = 1029), participants were interviewed in person by a lay interviewer about lifetime history of trauma exposure and PTSD. Prevalence rates of trauma exposure and PTSD diagnosis using single, open-ended question and list-based assessment were compared using a within-subject design. A single, open-ended question versus list-based trauma assessment yielded trauma-exposure rates of 61%, 95% CI [57.8, 63.8] and 78%, 95% CI [75.2, 80.3], respectively. Conditional rates of lifetime PTSD decreased from 6.7%, 95% CI [5.8, 9.4] to 6%, 95% CI [4.4, 7.7], respectively. Increases in trauma exposure were more pronounced in women (33.7%) than men (21.5%), as well as in the younger stratum of study participants (15-24 years old; 36.1%). Underestimation of PTSD using a single, open-ended question assessment was minimal, although all missing cases were women. Our results lend support to the importance of using comprehensive assessments of exposure to potentially traumatic events when conducting epidemiological research, especially when reporting conditional rates of PTSD. Previous research may have underestimated the prevalence of trauma exposure, particularly among young women. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

The high burden of exposure to chronic life adversities and trauma is quite prevalent, but assessment of this risk burden is uncommon in primary care settings. This calls for a brief, multiple dimensional mental health risk screening tool in primary care settings. We aimed to develop such a screening tool named the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Life Adversities Screener (LADS). Using pooled data across 4 studies from the UCLA Center for Culture, Trauma, and Mental Health Disparities, 5 domains of mental health risk including perceived discrimination, sexual abuse histories, family adversity, intimate partner violence, and trauma histories, were identified. Regression models for depression (Centers for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale) and posttraumatic stress disorder (Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale), controlling for demographic factors, were fitted to develop a weighted continuous scale score for the UCLA LADS. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the 5-domain structure, while item response theory endorsed the inclusion of each item. Receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that the score was predictive for classifying subjects as reaching clinical threshold criteria for either depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II ≥ 14 or Patient Health Questionnaire-9 ≥ 10) or anxiety (Patient Health Questionnaire-13 ≥10). An optimal cut of 0.33 is suggested based on maximizing sensitivity and specificity of the LADS score, identifying patients at high risk for mental health problems. Given its predictive utility and ease of administration, the UCLA LADS could be useful as a screener to identify racial minority individuals in primary care settings who have a high trauma burden, needing more extensive evaluation., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.)