The children's PTSD Inventory: Development and reliability

Information involving the development of the DSM-IV version of the Children 's PTSD Inventory is described. Independent ratings by highly experienced j udges denote that the instrument encompassed the universe of definition tha t it was intended to measure (i.e., the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD). The inst rument was administered to 82 traumatized and 22 nontraumatized youths at B ellevue Hospital. Moderate to high Cronbach alphas (.53-.89) were evident a t the subtest level. An alpha of .95 was evident at the diagnostic level. I n terms of inter-rater reliability, 98.1% agreement was evident at the diag nostic level. Inter-rater intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ranged from .88 to .96 a the subtest level and .98 at the diagnostic level. Good to excellent kappas (.66-1.00) were reported for inter-rater reliability at the subtest level. An inter-rater reliability kappa of .96 was evident at the diagnostic level. In terms of test-retest reliability, 97.6% agreement was evident at the diagnostic level. Good to excellent test-retest kappas ( .66-1.00) and ICCs (.66-.94) were observed. A test-retest kappa of .91 and an ICC of .88 was observed at the diagnostic level.