title: [A brief instrument for the assessment of childhood abuse and neglect: the childhood trauma screener (CTS)].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is a lack of a psychometrically sound screening questionnaire that assesses important dimensions of traumatic experiences during childhood and adolescence in a time-efficient way. Based on the German version of the "Childhood Trauma Questionnaire" (CTQ, 28 items) we developed a five-item self-report childhood trauma screener (CTS) that covers sexual, emotional and physical abuse and emotional and physical neglect.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data set of the SHIP-LEGEND study (n = 1668) was used to extract five items of the CTQ that optimally covered the five dimensions and showed a high correlation with the total score. In two validation samples (clinical sample [n = 211] and subjects from the BiDirect study [n = 288]) the psychometric properties of the CTS were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The correlations between the five CTS Items and the corresponding dimensions from the CTQ were r = 0.55 to 0.87 (p < 0.0001) within the clinical sample. Furthermore, we found high correlations (r = 0.88; p < 0.0001) with the total CTQ score. The internal consistency was 0.757 (Cronbachs α).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CTS is a reliable, valid and economic screener for the retrospective assessment of adverse childhood experiences especially in large epidemiological studies.
authors.affiliation: Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald.
authors.forename: Hans Jörgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Grabe
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Carsten Oliver
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Driessen
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wingenfeld
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barnow
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wersching
authors.forename: Harald J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Freyberger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult