Reliability and validity:

In a multi-site sample of 219 traumatized children (Briere, et al., 2001), the TSCYC clinical scales had good reliability (alpha values for the clinical scales ranged from .81 for Sexual Concerns to .93 for PTSD-Total, with an average value of .87) and were predictive of exposure to childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence.  The Posttraumatic Stress - Intrusion (PTS-I), Posttraumatic Stress - Avoidance (PTS-AV), Posttraumatic Stress - Arousal (PTS-AR), and Posttraumatic Stress - Total (PTS-TOT) were most predictive, followed by Sexual Concerns (SC) in the case of sexual abuse and Dissociation (DIS) in the case of physical abuse.  Similar reliability and various forms of validity have been demonstrated in a number of other samples (e.g., Becker-Blease, Freyd, & Pears, 2004; Finkelhor, Turner, & Ormrod, in press; Gilbert, 2003; Pollio, Glover-Orr, & Wherry, 2002; Wolpaw, Newman, Davis, Ford, & Briere, in press).

Diagnostic utility for PTSD:

Gilbert, Briere, Taylor, & Viglione (2004) examined TSCYC scales and the parent-report Reaction Index (RI) in  90 children from the Gilbert (2003) dataset (mean age = 7.8 years, SD =  1.5).  A raw score of greater than 40 on the PTS-TOT scale had a sensitivity of .72 and a specificity of .75) in identifying RI-defined PTSD (κ = .45).

REFERENCES

Briere, J., Johnson, K., Bissada, A., Damon, L., Crouch, J., Gil, E., Hanson, R., & Ernst, V.  (2001). The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC): Reliability and association with abuse exposure in a multi-site study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 1001-1014.

Becker-Blease, K.A., Freyd, J.F., & Pears, K.C. (2004).  Preschoolers' memory for threatening information depends on trauma history and attentional context: Implications for the development of dissociation.  Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 5, 113-131.

DeMaria, T., Barrett, M., Kerasiotis, B.C., Rohlih, J., & Chemtob, C.M. (2006). Bio-psycho-social assessment of 9/11-bereaved children  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1071, 481-183.

Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R.K., & Turner, H. (2007).  Poly-victimization: A neglected component in child victimization.  Child Abuse and Neglect, 31, 7-26.

Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R.K., & Turner, H. (2007). Polyvictimization and trauma in a national longitudinal cohort.  Development and Psychopathology, 19, 149-166

Finkelhor, D., Turner, H.A., & Ormrod, R.K. (in press). The victimization of children and youth:  A comprehensive, national survey. Child Maltreatment.

Gilbert, A. (2003).  Psychometric properties of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC).  Doctoral dissertation, California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant University.

Lanktree, C.B., Gilbert, A.M., Briere, J., Taylor, N., Chen, K., Maida, C.A., & Saltzman, W.R. (in press). Multi-informant assessment of maltreated children:  Convergent and discriminant validity of the TSCC and TSCYC. Child Abuse & Neglect.

Pollio, E.S., Glover-Orr, L.E., & Wherry, J.N. (January, 2002).  Assessing posttraumatic stress disorder using the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children. Paper presented at the San Diego Conference on Child Maltreatment, San Diego, CA.

Stover, C.S. & Berkowitz, S. (2005).  Assessing violence exposure and trauma symptoms in young children: A critical review of measures.  Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18, 707-717.

Strand, V.C., Sarmiento, T.L., & Pasquale, L.E. (2005). Assessment and screening tools for trauma in children and adolescents: A Review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 6, 55-78.

Turner, H., Finkelhor, D., & Ormrod, R.K. (2006). The effect of lifetime victimization on the mental health of children and adolescents.  Social Science and Medicine, 62, 13-27.

Wherry, J.N., O'Boyle, J.V., Lyons, T. & Gonzalez, M. (January, 2002).  The concurrent validity of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children. Paper presented at the San Diego Conference on Child Maltreatment, San Diego, CA.

Wolpaw, J.M., Ford, J.D., Newman, E., Davis, J.L., & Briere, J. (2005).  Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children.  In T. Grisso, G. Vincent, & D. Seagrave (eds.), Handbook of Mental Health Screening and Assessment for Juvenile Justice. (pp. 152-165).  New York: Guilford.

NOTE: A Spanish-version of the TSCYC is available for research, but has not yet been normed on the general population.  Click here for further information.