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The Child PTSD Symptom Scale: Psychometric Properties among Earthquake Survivors

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Abstract

Evidence for a single underlying factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children remains elusive. We assessed the underlying factor structure of the Child PTSD Symptom Scale through exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) in 570 survivors of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal. The EFA suggests that the three-factor DSM-IV model fit these data best. The CFA suggests that while the DSM-IV model adequately fit these data, the four-factor King model fit them better. There was no evidence of differential item functioning by age or gender, and internal consistency of the scale was high. PTSD (overall or by factor) was not correlated with functional impairment. Inconsistent psychometric results across contexts and methodologies suggest that our current theoretical conceptualizations and empirical models of posttraumatic stress are lacking. Future studies must both document the instrument properties to assure internal validity and cross-study comparisons and, bolstered by increased psychometric data and analyses, rework theoretical models of PTSD with improved cross-cultural validity.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Sabrina Hermosilla and Sarah Forthal have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, 1006E, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, USA

    Sabrina Hermosilla & Dirgha Ghimire

  2. Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA

    Sarah Forthal & Madeline Van Husen

  3. Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Janna Metzler & Alastair Ager

  4. Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    Alastair Ager

Authors
  1. Sabrina Hermosilla
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  2. Sarah Forthal
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  3. Madeline Van Husen
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  4. Janna Metzler
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  5. Dirgha Ghimire
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  6. Alastair Ager
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Correspondence to Sabrina Hermosilla.

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Conflict of interest

The research was funded by World Vision International (ended 2015), an elrha R2HC award from the Wellcome Trust and DFID (ended 2016), and additional funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH096724 and R01MH110872). The funding sources had no role in the analysis or interpretation of this study. Dr. Sabrina Hermosilla received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH096724 and R01MH110872) to complete analytic and dissemination-related activities on this manuscript.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Hermosilla, S., Forthal, S., Van Husen, M. et al. The Child PTSD Symptom Scale: Psychometric Properties among Earthquake Survivors. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 52, 1184–1193 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01097-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01097-z

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