Darryl, a cartoon-based measure of cardinal posttraumatic stress symptoms in school-age children.
OBJECTIVE
This report examines the reliability and validity of Darryl, a cartoon-based measure of the cardinal symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


METHODS
We measured exposure to community violence through the reports of children and their parents and then administered Darryl to a sample of 110 children aged 7 to 9 residing in urban neighborhoods with high crime rates.


RESULTS
Darryl's reliability is excellent overall and is acceptable for the reexperiencing, avoidance, and arousal subscales, considered separately. Child reports of exposure to community violence were significantly associated with child reports of PTSD symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
Darryl possesses acceptable psychometric properties in a sample of children with frequent exposure to community violence.
Neugebauer
R
R
Epidemiology of Developmental Brain Disorders Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY 10032, USA.
Wasserman
G A
GA
Fisher
P W
PW
Kline
J
J
Geller
P A
PA
Miller
L S
LS
D001143:Arousal; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D002359:Cartoons as Topic; D002648:Child; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009519:New York City; D011203:Poverty; D002666:Psychology, Child; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*