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Convergent validity of measures of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a mixed military and civilian population

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Journal of Traumatic Stress

Abstract

The authors evaluated the validity of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) subscale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Impact of Event Scale (IES) and the Symptom Check List 90 (SCL-90) as continuous and dichotomous measures of PTSD in a mixed military and civilian group of 70 subjects in the United Kingdom. The MMPI-PTSD and the IES are designed specifically as measures of PTSD and the Global Symptom Index of the SCL-90 is a general measure of neurosis. All measures produced significant positive correlations with scores from the Clinician Administered Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale (CAPS-1) and with each other. The IES was the most useful dichotomous measure. The optimum cut-off score for the IES producing the highest Positive Predictive Value and the lowest Apparent Total Misclassification Error Rate has been determined.

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Neal, L.A., Busuttil, W., Rollins, J. et al. Convergent validity of measures of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a mixed military and civilian population. J Trauma Stress 7, 447–455 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102789

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