title: Longitudinal invariance of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in adolescent earthquake survivors.
abstract: The present study examined the invariance of four models of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) across time through an analysis of symptom ratings from the PTSD Checklist-Civilian version. Participants included 403 junior middle school students recruited from Sichuan, China at 5 and 11 months after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Confirmatory factor analysis using measurement and structural invariance testing found that four tested models were non-invariant (i.e., different) over time on PTSD's variable intercepts (indicating symptom severity) and residual error variances, but were invariant on PTSD's factor loadings and structural parameters. The two 4-factor intercorrelated models and the newly proposed 5-factor model were superior to the model defined in DSM-IV; however, the best fitting model was the newest proposed 5-factor model. These findings extend our understanding of PTSD's factor structure that the factor structure may be quite stable over time.
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Mengcheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jon D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Elhai
authors.forename: Xiaoyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Shuqiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*