TSCYC - Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children

The TSCYC is a 90-item caretaker-report instrument developed for the assessment of trauma-related symptoms in children ages 3-12. It contains two reporter validity scales and eight clinical scales. The scales allow a detailed evaluation of posttraumatic stress symptoms and a tentative PTSD diagnosis. It also provides information on other symptoms such as anxiety, depression, anger, and abnormal sexual behavior.

Overview

Briere, J (2005). Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC): Professional Manual. Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. Odessa, FL.

Administration

4-point scale (1=Not at All, 2=Sometimes, 3=Often, 4=Very Often)

Training

The TSCYC is a PAR "B" level test. B-level qualifications include "a degree from an accredited 4-year college or university in Psychology, Counseling, or a closely related field PLUS satisfactory completion of coursework in Test Interpretation, Psychometrics, and Measurement Theory, Educational Statistics or a closely related area; OR license or certification from an agency/organization that requires appropriate training and experience in the ethnical and competent use of psychological tests."

Parallel or Alternate Forms

FORMS FOR DIFFERENT AGES: There is the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) for older children and the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) for adults. ALTERED VERSIONS: These self-report measures have similar scales, and can be used to assess cross-informant agreement and to be able to get information from multiple informants.

Psychometrics

The TSCYC is typically used with abused and traumatized children. The TSCYC was normed on 750 children matched to the U.S. Census with 42.3% having experienced a highly upsetting or traumatic event.

T-scores of 65 to 70 are subclinical but considered to be problematic. T-scores of 70 and above are considered to be clinically elevated.

Gilbert (2004) showed internal consistency as acceptable with an alpha range of .81 to .93 for the clinical scales, average alpha of .87. This is a sample of abused (n=388) and non-abused children (n=45).

1. Association with childhood abuse/trauma: Hierarchical multiple regression analyses of TSCYC scale scores were performed for those subjects who had complete data on demographics, childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence (n=104). After controlling for child sex, age, and race (at Step 1) several relationships were found between type of abuse exposure and TSCYC symptomatology. Specifically, childhood sexual abuse was associated with ratings of Posttraumatic Stress (PTS)-Intrusion, PTS-Avoidance, and PTS-Total, as well as Sexual Concerns. Childhood Physical Abuse was related to PTS-Intrusion, PTS-Arousal, PTS-Total, and Dissociation; and Witnessing Domestic Violence was related to PTS-Intrusions, PTS-Avoidance, PTS-Arousal, and PTS Total, and negatively associated with Sexual Concerns (Briere et al., 2001). 2. Association with child and rater characteristics: Multiple regression analyses of TSCYC scales as a function of child and rater variables revealed that younger children were rated as having more Anger; older children were rated higher on both Depression and Response Level. Two sex differences: Male children received higher scores on the Anger scale and female children had higher Response Level ratings. Two race effects: Caucasian children were rated as higher on Posttraumatic Stress-Arousal and lower on Response Level.

Measures used for convergent/concurrent validity were the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), The Child Depression Inventory (CDI), The Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC), The Child Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI), and the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSCC). Populations used in the studies were non-abused and abused children (Physical, Sexual, Neglect, and Witness Domestic Violence).

Gilbert (2004) examined a matched sample on age, gender, and ethnicity for sexually abused (n=45) and non-abused (n=45) children. Scores on the TSCYC were able to accurately predict abused and non-abused children most of the time.

This is still a new measure and requires more study but is showing great promise.

Translations

Population Information

Caretakers fluent in English who brought their children to various programs across the United States. All protocols were provided by child advocacy centers, abuse programs, or child trauma centers. Mean age of children was 7.1 (SD=2.6).