NCJ Number
154467
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 19 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1995) Pages: 315-323
Date Published
1995
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This paper describes a self-report measure, the Child Abuse and Trauma Scale, which yields a quantitative index of the frequency and extent of various types of negative experiences in childhood and adolescence.
Abstract
The authors present data on this measure for two large samples of college students and for a small clinical sample of subjects with a diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder. The strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the scale in the college population is documented, and its validity is attested to by demonstrating that it correlates significantly with outcomes such as dissociation, depression, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and victimization, all of which have previously been associated with childhood trauma or abuse. The high scores of the multiple personality subjects confer additional validity to the measure. The authors suggest that the construct of psychological maltreatment underlies the destructive elements of numerous forms of abuse and neglect; they believe that the scale they have developed may provide a useful index of this construct. 1 table, 20 references, and appended scale