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Screening for preschool posttraumatic stress disorder with the Child Behavior Checklist
Christopher Dehon1, Michael S Scheeringa
1University of New Orleans, LA, USA. cdehon@lsuhsc.edu
Insights
A modified Child Behavior Checklist-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CBCL-PTSD) scale effectively screens for PTSD in young children. This cost-effective tool shows high correlation with PTSD symptoms and good diagnostic accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Child psychology
- Pediatric mental health
- Trauma studies
Background:
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) significantly impacts young children's development.
- Early identification of PTSD in preschool-aged children is crucial for timely intervention.
- Existing screening tools may require adaptation for this specific age group.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the psychometric properties of a modified Child Behavior Checklist-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CBCL-PTSD) scale.
- To determine the utility of the CBCL-PTSD scale for screening PTSD in traumatized preschool children.
- To assess the scale's ability to predict PTSD symptoms and meet diagnostic criteria.
Main Methods:
- The study involved 62 traumatized children aged 23 months to 6 years.
- Mothers were interviewed regarding PTSD symptoms and completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
- A modified CBCL-PTSD scale was developed and analyzed for psychometric properties.
Main Results:
- The modified CBCL-PTSD scale demonstrated a high correlation (r = 0.66) with interview-based PTSD symptom counts.
- The scale effectively predicted PTSD symptoms, outperforming the internalizing and externalizing subscales of the CBCL.
- A cutoff score of nine on the CBCL-PTSD indicated optimal sensitivity and specificity for identifying children with PTSD.
Conclusions:
- The modified CBCL-PTSD scale is a potentially valuable and cost-effective screening tool for PTSD in traumatized preschool children.
- The scale's psychometric properties support its use in clinical settings for early PTSD detection.
- Further validation may enhance its role in pediatric mental health assessments.
Objective:
To examine the psychometric properties and utility of a Child Behavior Checklist-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CBCL-PTSD) Scale to screen for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in traumatized preschool children.
Method:
Data for this study were drawn from a study of young child trauma and consisted of 62 traumatized children, 23 months through 6 years of age. The children's mothers were interviewed about PTSD symptoms and then completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
Results:
The modified CBCL-PTSD correlated highly with the number of PTSD symptoms from the interview (r = 0.66). The CBCL-PTSD scale predicted PTSD symptoms above and beyond the internalizing and externalizing scales of the CBCL. A cutoff score of nine on this scale possessed the best sensitivity and specificity in classifying those traumatized children who met diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
Conclusion:
The modified CBCL-PTSD scale could be a useful cost-effective tool to screen for PTSD in traumatized, preschool-age children.
