Predictive accuracy and factor structure of the Child Report of Posttraumatic Symptoms (CROPS) among adjudicated...

Trauma exposure and trauma symptom manifest have been associated with issues unique to the adjudicated youth population (Perkins, Calhoun, Glaser, & Kunemund, 2016), which necessitates accurate screening tools to facilitate appropriate allocation of resources (Briggs et al., 2013; Kerig, Moeddel, & Becker, 2011). The Child Report of Posttraumatic Symptoms (CROPS; Greenwald & Rubin, 1999) is a short and effective trauma assessment tool; however, predictive accuracy of the CROPS in classifying previous trauma exposure(s) as well as the factor structure of the CROPS has not been examined with this population.

Retrospective data of 215 adjudicated youth (50.2% boys) were used to investigate the predictive accuracy of the CROPS in detecting previous trauma exposures. Further, researchers examined the factor structure of the CROPS to identify principle components that most strongly contributed to accurate classification.

Logistic regression analyses indicated moderate predictive accuracy (64.2%) in identifying reported trauma histories for the total sample and among both adjudicated males (61.1%) and females (66.4%). Principle components analyses revealed a stable 3-factor solution (accounting for 47% of total variance) and yielded a 14-item CROPS factor accounting for 32.3% of total variance. The 14-item factor demonstrated improved predictive accuracy over the full 26-item CROPS for the total sample (65.1%) and among adjudicated males (66.7%).

Overall findings provide moderate support for the utility of the CROPS in accurately identifying previous trauma exposure(s) among adjudicated youth and provide preliminary support for a 14-item version of the CROPS for screening for trauma symptoms in adjudicated youth. (PsycINFO Database Record