title: The Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist in a sample of South African youth: establishing factorial validity.
abstract: To address the diverse health effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in youth, reliable and valid screening and diagnostic instruments that can be adapted to the specific context in which they are used, are required. Here, we assessed the psychometric properties (factorial validity, concurrent validity, and internal consistency) of the Child PTSD Checklist in treatment-seeking youth using secondary data. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.93). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure (anxiety and avoidance, anger and dissociation, and depressive symptoms) that accounted for 41.9% of the total variance. Concurrent validity was fair between the Child PTSD Checklist and the diagnostic Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, Present and Lifetime version when assessing for PTSD. The Child PTSD Checklist seems to be a promising tool for assessing PTSD in trauma-exposed youth in clinic settings. However, further studies are needed to address the checklist's broader utility.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
authors: Friederike
authors: F
authors: Frank-Schultz
authors: Pamela
authors: P
authors: Naidoo
authors: Karen J
authors: KJ
authors: Cloete
authors: Soraya
authors: S
authors: Seedat
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D057189:Checklist / Q000592:standards; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013019:South Africa; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*