title: Are adult offspring reliable informants about parental PTSD? A validation study.
abstract: We developed a short questionnaire--Parental PTSD Questionnaire--(PPQ), designed to assess the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in parents. Fifty-eight adult offspring of Holocaust survivors (23 men and 35 women) completed the questionnaire about a parent who was independently evaluated by a trained clinician using the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Only 5.2% of the offspring reported, "not knowing" if their parent had experienced 10 or fewer symptoms, while 56.9% provided estimates for all 17 items. There were no significant differences between lifetime frequencies of the individual symptoms as endorsed on the PPQ compared to the CAPS when subjects with completed PPQs were compared with CAPS. Interrater reliability between offspring and clinician was highly significant for each of the items when evaluated separately so as to include data for subjects who endorsed not knowing if a certain symptom had been present. Further studies are warranted to examine the psychometric properties of this measure.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry 116A, Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 130 West Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, NY 10468, USA. Rachel.Yehuda@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yehuda
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Labinsky
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tischler
authors.forename: Sarah R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Brand
authors.forename: Yonit
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lavin
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.forename: Linda M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bierer
authors.forename: Rachel Z
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Grossman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D017767:Holocaust / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology