The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC): reliability and association with abuse exposure in a multi-site study

• Published in: Child abuse & neglect 2001-08, Vol.25 (8), p.1001-1014
• Main Authors: Briere, John, Johnson, Kerri, Bissada, Angela, Damon, Linda, Crouch, Julie, Gil, Eliana, Hanson, Rochelle, Ernst, Vickie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abuse; Anger; Assessment; Biological and medical sciences; Check Lists; Child; Child Abuse; Child abuse & neglect; Child Abuse - psychology; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Depression; Exposure; Female; Health care; Health Status Indicators; Humans; Male; Measures; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Parents; Post traumatic stress disorder; Post-traumatic stress; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychological trauma; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Regression Analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Self Disclosure; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - classification; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Techniques and methods; Test Reliability; Trauma; Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children; United States; Young Children
• ISSN: 0145-2134; 1873-7757
• DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(01)00253-8

Objective: The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC) is a 90-item caretaker-report measure of children’s trauma- and abuse-related symptomatology. It contains two reporter validity scales and eight clinical scales [Post-traumatic Stress-Intrusion (PTS-I), Post-traumatic Stress-Avoidance (PTS-AV), Post-traumatic Stress-Arousal (PTS-AR), Post-traumatic Stress-Total (PTS-TOT), Sexual Concerns (SC), Dissociation (DIS), Anxiety (ANX), Depression (DEP), and Anger/Aggression (ANG)], as well as an item assessing hours per week of caretaker contact with the child. This paper introduces the TSCYC and describes its psychometric properties in a multisite validity study. Method: A total of 219 TSCYCs administered by six clinician/researchers across the United States were analyzed for scale reliability and association with several types of childhood maltreatment. Results: The TSCYC clinical scales have good reliability and are associated with exposure to childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence. The PTS-I, PTS-AV, PTS-AR, and PTS-TOT scales were most predictive, followed by SC in the case of sexual abuse and DIS in the case of physical abuse. There were a small number of age, sex, and race effects on TSCYC scores. Conclusions: The TSCYC appears to have reasonable psychometric characteristics, and correlates as expected with various types of trauma exposure. Subject to continued validation and the development of general population norms, its use as a clinical measure is supported. Objectif: Le Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC) mesure grâce à une enquête remplie par la personne chargée d’un enfant la symptomatologie liée au traumatisme et aux sévices. Elle comporte deux échelles de validité concernant l’expert et 8 échelles cliniques (stress post-traumatique-intrusion (PTS-I), stress post-traumatique-évitement (PTS-AV), stress-post-traumatique-début (PTS-AR), stress post-traumatique-total (PTS-TOT), intérêts sexuels (SC), dissociation (DIS), anxiété ANX), dépression (DEP) et colère-agressivité (ANG), ainsi qu’une évaluation en heures passées pae semaine par l’adulte concerné avec l’enfant. Cet article présente le TSCYC et décrit ses propriétés psychométriques dans une étude de validité à plusieurs emplacements. Méthode: Au total, 219 TSCYC ont été administrés par six cliniciens-chercheurs dans l’ensembles des Etats-Unis et analysés selon la fiabilité et l’association avec différents types de mauvais traitemen