Symptom Variation on the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children: A Within-Scale Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract

Trauma exposure in youth is widespread, yet symptom expression varies. The present study employs a within-scale meta-analytic framework to explore determinants of differential responses to trauma exposure. The meta-analysis included 74 studies employing samples of youth exposed to traumatic events and who completed the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC). Mean weighted T scores across all TSCC subscales for U.S. samples ranged between 49 and 52. Youth outside the U.S. reported higher posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, whereas those exposed to sexual abuse reported the highest posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depressive, and dissociative symptoms. Higher female representation in samples was associated with higher symptoms on all TSCC subscales except anger. In contrast, ethnic minority representation was associated with lower depressive symptoms. Moderator analyses revealed that sexual abuse, increased percentage of females, and older age were all associated with higher posttraumatic symptoms. The present meta-analytic results help elucidate some of the divergent findings on symptom expression in youth exposed to traumatic events.