NCJ Number
196480
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: 2001 Pages: 51-66
Date Published
2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article discusses child abuse victims’ sensitivity to trauma-related symptoms and the validity of self-reporting.
Abstract
Focusing on two interrelated issues in the assessment of child sexual abuse victims, this article addresses victims’ sensitivity to trauma-related symptoms and the validity of the self-reporting of these symptoms. Arguing that there is a wide variety of emotional and behavioral symptoms exhibited by sexually abused children, the authors discuss the psychological instruments used in assessing children’s symptoms of child sexual abuse (CSA). Highlighting the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC), this article evaluates the TSCC’s comparative sensitivity to trauma and the instrument’s validity scales. Using the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY), a multi-dimensional, self-reported measurement of general child psychopathy, as a comparison, the research presented in this article tested the hypotheses that TSCC validity scales would be moderately correlated with PIY scales measuring similar variables and that TSCC clinical scales would be more sensitive to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than the PIY scales. Demographic data from 37 sexually abused girls and 4 sexually abused boys was obtained by clinicians and the TSCC, the PIY, the Abuse Dimensions Inventory (ADI), and the Diagnostics Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA) were administered. Results indicate that 22 of 41 participants were diagnosed with PTSD and moderate positive correlations were found between the TSCC and PIY scales. Furthermore, TSCC scales were shown to be more sensitive to assessing PTSD than were PIY scales. Tables, references