The psychometric properties of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children in a sample of Swedish children

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC). METHOD The study was composed of a total of 629 children-296 girls and 333 boys-aged 3-11, from a non-clinical population who were rated by their caretakers (26 of whom performed a re-test after 2 weeks) in addition to 59 children from a clinical population with known experience of sexual and/or physical abuse. The caretakers from the normal population completed the TSCYC and Lifetime Incidence of Traumatic Events Scale-parent scale (LITE-P) and the clinical-sample caretakers completed TSCYC. The psychometric properties of the TSCYC were examined, including reliability and validity. RESULTS The reliability (Cronbach's alpha) of the TSCYC, total scale, was α = 0.93 (normative group) and α = 0.96 (clinical group). For the clinical scales, this ranged between α = 0.55-0.88 and 0.77-0.93, respectively. Test-retest for the total scale was r=0.77. Regarding criterion-related validity, the clinical groups scored significantly higher than the normative group, and within the normative group significant relationships were found between exposure to traumatic events and TSCYC scores. Confirmatory factor analysis testing of the construction of the TSCYC indicated significant loadings on the original scales. CONCLUSION The Swedish version of TSCYC appears to be a screening instrument with satisfactory psychometric qualities for identifying symptoms after trauma in young children. The instrument can also be recommended to clinicians for screening purposes in a European context.