The study of reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC) including reliability and validity. The TSCYC is an instrument to identify trauma symptoms in children from age 3 to 12 yr by their caretakers. The Korean version of the TSCYC was administered to the caretakers of a normative group of 299 children (137 boys and 162 girls) aged 3 to 12 yr and a traumatized group of 73 sexually abused children (22 boys and 51 girls) aged 3 to 12 yr and their caretakers rated the TSCYC and the Child Behavior Checklist and the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory. Among normative group, 88 performed a re-test after 4 weeks. The internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha of total scale of the TSCYC was 0.92 (normative group) and 0.96 (traumatized group). For the nine clinical scales in the TSCYC, it ranged between 0.46-0.92 and 0.77-0.96, respectively. Test-retest correlation of the TSCYC was good (Pearson r score ranging 0.52-0.96). Correlations between the TSCYC and other measures of corresponding constructs were satisfactory. Regarding discriminant validity, the mean total score of the TSCYC was significantly higher in the traumatized children than in the normative group. This study demonstrated that Korean version of the TSCYC is a reliable measure with excellent internal consistency and good stability over 4-week testretest interval. It can be recommended for clinicians to screen for trauma symptoms after child sexual abuse in Korean young children between the ages 3 and 12.