FACTOR-ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF EVENT SCALE WITH CHILDREN IN WAR

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Impact of Event Scale ( IES scale) in children a study was conducted on 1787 children exposed to the warfare in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study group com prised 877 girls and 910 boys ranging in age from 6 to 15 years attend ing 28 arbitrary selected schools in Zagreb. High levels of posttrauma tic reactions were found in the group of children. The pattern of endo rsement and the factor structure of the IES scale were similar to that found in other samples. This supports the use of the IES in the asses sment of posttraumatic stress reactions in children. Two factors emerg ed from a Principal Component Analysis, labeled intrusion (9 items), a nd avoidance (4 items). As in other studies, this study documented pro blems with several items (items 2, 12 and 15), items that should be co nsidered omitted from the IES. Girls reported significantly more distr ess on 13 out of the 15 items. Both the overall IES score as well as t he intrusion and avoidance score were significantly higher in girls th an boys. The factor structure for boys and girls were very similar, an d the reliability of the scale was adequate across different age group s and for subgroups of displaced and refugee children.