Assessment of posttraumatic symptoms in children: Development and preliminary validation of parent and child scales

The authors report on the development and initial validation of two brief m easures of children's posttraumatic symptoms: a child self-report and a par ent report. Intended applications include postdisaster screening, tracking children's recovery in research and clinical settings, and screening for po sttraumatic stress among children with various presenting problems. A sampl e of 206 urban and rural schoolchildren, Grades 3 through 8, and their pare nts, completed these measures as well as a checklist of the child's trauma- loss history. Findings provide preliminary support for the internal consist ency, rest-retest reliability, content validity, and criterion validity of each measure. We recommend cautious use of the measures, and suggest additi onal avenues of study.