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Network theory promises new ways for conceptualizing, methods for investigating, and state-of-the-art lines of research that will improve our knowledge of mental health in high-risk children and adolescents. This study constructed a symptom network to examine associations between a wide range of trauma symptoms in a sample of children and adolescents ( N = 270; M age = 12.55 yrs, SD = 1.19; 67% = Female) who experienced different forms of abuse (i.e., sexual, physical, emotional and neglect). Symptom-pairs regularized partial correlations, with the Extended Bayesian Information Criterion Graphical Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (EBICglasso), were computed to estimate the network structure and centrality measures of the TSCC-SF items. Results show sadness, dissociative amnesia, and sexual arousal to be the most central symptoms in the network, while suicidality was found to be the shortest pathway across all other symptoms (domains). By providing clinicians with specific symptoms to target in interventions, the network framework has the potential to guide and enhance the effectiveness of psychological therapies in high-risk populations.

Background: While assessment measures of trauma-related symptoms in children exist, few of them are at once brief, self-reports, normed, comprehensive (i.e., cover both general and trauma-specific symptoms), and thus suitable for poorly resourced clinical contexts., Objective: This study validated the short form of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC-SF) in a sample of children and adolescents., Participants and Settings: Participants were school-age children and adolescents (N = 270; M age  = 12.55 yrs., SD = 1.19; 67% = Female) exposed to different types of abuse (i.e., sexual, physical, emotional and neglect) receiving counselling at a non-governmental organisation., Methods: The TSCC-SF's factor structure and Differential Item Functioning (DIF) across sexes were examined using confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis., Results: Results revealed a satisfactory construct validity of the scale, while internal consistency was also adequate. No DIF was found across the sexes., Conclusions: The TSCC-SF appears to be a viable option for use with children exposed to different types of abuse, particularly in low resource clinical contexts., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)