Development and Preliminary Validation of a Brief Broad-Spectrum Measure of Trauma Exposure: The Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire

This article describes the development and preliminary validation of a brief questionnaire that assesses exposure to a broad range of potentially traumatic events. Items were generated from multiple sources of information. Events were described in behaviorally descriptive terms, consistent with Diag...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological assessment 2000-06, Vol.12 (2), p.210-224
Main Authors: Kubany, Edward S, Leisen, Mary Beth, Kaplan, Aaron S, Watson, Susan B, Haynes, Stephen N, Burns, Katie, Owens, Julie A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alcohol Abuse
Biological and medical sciences
Drug Abuse
Emotional Trauma
Female
Human
Humans
Injuries
Life Change Events
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Military Veterans
Outpatient
Post traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - standards
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychometrics
Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Questionnaires
Reproducibility of Results
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis
Techniques and methods
Test Construction
Test Forms
Test Validity
Trauma Severity Indices
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article describes the development and preliminary validation of a brief questionnaire that assesses exposure to a broad range of potentially traumatic events. Items were generated from multiple sources of information. Events were described in behaviorally descriptive terms, consistent with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV posttraumatic stress disorder stressor criterion A1. When events were endorsed, respondents were asked if they experienced intense fear, helplessness, or horror (stressor criterion A2). In separate studies with college students, Vietnam veterans, battered women, and residents of a substance abuse program, most items possessed adequate to excellent temporal stability. In a study comparing questionnaire and structured-interview inquiries of trauma history, the 2 formats yielded similar rates of disclosure. Preliminary data on positive predictive power are also presented.
ISSN:1040-3590
1939-134X
DOI:10.1037/1040-3590.12.2.210