TY - JOUR
T1 - The Child Trauma Screen
T2 - A Follow-Up Validation
AU - Lang, Jason M.
AU - Connell, Christian M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded in part by a grant from the Administration for Children and Families (90C01055). The authors wish to acknowledge the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, Michelle Goyette-Ewing, Tim Marshall, Kristina Stevens, Erin Warnick, and Bethany Zorba for their contributions to this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
PY - 2018/8
Y1 - 2018/8
N2 - Although the prevalence of exposure to potentially traumatic events and associated outcomes among children is well documented, widespread trauma screening remains limited. This study provides additional data supporting the psychometrics of the Child Trauma Screen (CTS), a free, brief, empirically derived measure that was intended as a trauma screen for use across child-serving systems. Participants were an ethnically diverse sample of 187 children aged 6–18 years recruited from an urban children's community mental health clinic. At intake, children and their caregivers completed the CTS and other standardized measures of posttraumatic stress disorder, externalizing behavior, anxiety, and depression. Results indicated that the CTS had strong properties on both child and caregiver reports, including internal consistency (Cronbach's α =.78 for both), convergent validity (r =.83 and r =.86), divergent validity (mean across measures and reporters, r =.31; range r =.01–.70), and criterion validity (sensitivity = 0.83 and 0.76; specificity = 0.95 and 0.79, correct classification 89.3% and 81.4%). Suggested cut points and recommendations for using the CTS as a trauma screen are provided. This study provides further empirical support for the use of the CTS as a brief trauma screening measure and provides recommendations for further research.
AB - Although the prevalence of exposure to potentially traumatic events and associated outcomes among children is well documented, widespread trauma screening remains limited. This study provides additional data supporting the psychometrics of the Child Trauma Screen (CTS), a free, brief, empirically derived measure that was intended as a trauma screen for use across child-serving systems. Participants were an ethnically diverse sample of 187 children aged 6–18 years recruited from an urban children's community mental health clinic. At intake, children and their caregivers completed the CTS and other standardized measures of posttraumatic stress disorder, externalizing behavior, anxiety, and depression. Results indicated that the CTS had strong properties on both child and caregiver reports, including internal consistency (Cronbach's α =.78 for both), convergent validity (r =.83 and r =.86), divergent validity (mean across measures and reporters, r =.31; range r =.01–.70), and criterion validity (sensitivity = 0.83 and 0.76; specificity = 0.95 and 0.79, correct classification 89.3% and 81.4%). Suggested cut points and recommendations for using the CTS as a trauma screen are provided. This study provides further empirical support for the use of the CTS as a brief trauma screening measure and provides recommendations for further research.
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U2 - 10.1002/jts.22310
DO - 10.1002/jts.22310
M3 - Article
C2 - 30058732
AN - SCOPUS:85052085407
SN - 0894-9867
VL - 31
SP - 540
EP - 548
JO - Journal of traumatic stress
JF - Journal of traumatic stress
IS - 4
ER -