The psychometric properties of the Trauma Symptom Checklist For Children (TSCC) in a sample of Swedish children.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) and to study traumatic symptoms in a normative group of Swedish children and adolescents.


METHODS
A normative group of 728 children and adolescents age 10-17 and a clinical group of 91 children and adolescents known to have experienced sexual abuse participated in the study. A test-retest procedure was conducted with 79 participants from the normative group.


RESULTS
Good reliability such as internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the total scale .94 (ranging in the clinical scales .78-.83) and test-retest for the total scale r=.81 (ranging in the clinical scales .67-.81) were found. The confirmatory 6-factor analysis explained 50.7% of the variance. Other validity measures such as concurrent validity and criterion related validity were also shown to be satisfactory. The normative sample of Swedish children and adolescents showed lower means on the subscales than has been reported in previous studies from a number of other countries.


CONCLUSIONS
The Swedish version of TSCC has been shown to be a screening instrument with satisfactory psychometric qualities that is capable to identify trauma symptoms among children and adolescents who have themselves self-reported experiencing trauma or for whom clinicians have identified traumatic experiences.
Nilsson
Doris
D
BUP-Elefanten, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, S-581 85 Linköping, Sweden.
Wadsby
Marie
M
Svedin
Carl Göran
CG
D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002667:Child Reactive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D013548:Sweden