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INTERNALIZING/EXTERNALIZING BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS
NATIONAL SURVEY OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT WELL-BEING
Measure: Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children
Background
The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) was used to measure internalizing behaviors associated with post-traumatic stress for children in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW; Briere, 1989).
The NSCAW was funded and administered by the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The study has been conducted through collaboration between staff at the Research Triangle Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Caliber Associates, and the University of California at Berkeley.
Population Assessed
Children ages 8 and older were administered the PTSD section of the TSCC. Overall, the two NSCAW sample components are made up of 6,227 children; 5,501 of those children had contact with the child welfare system within the 15-month period beginning in October 1999. At the time of sampling, the children ranged in age from birth to 14 years old; infants, children who have been abused sexually, and children who are receiving services were oversampled. The results of the survey can be generalized to the population that comes in contact with the child welfare system in the United States. Wave 1 consisted of 2,339 children being assessed with the TSCC. Wave 3 included 2,255 children.
The child protective services and long-term foster care sample components were fairly evenly distributed across the various child age categories from birth to age 14. At the time of the Wave 1 interview, just under 30 percent of the children fell under age 2. Another 21.6 percent fell between the ages of 2 and 5. Around 27 percent of the sample of children fell between the ages of 6 and 10. And 22 percent of the child sample fell between the ages of 11 and 14 at the time of the initial interview.
The racial and ethnic make-up of the combined child sample was diverse. American Indians made up 6.2 percent of the sample; Asian, Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islanders made up 2.4 percent of the sample; 35.7 percent of the sample was African American or Black; 49.6 percent of the sample was White. Across these racial groups, 17.3 percent were classified as being of Hispanic ethnic background. (See survey description for more information on the population.)
Periodicity
Data for the TSCC were collected at Wave 1 between November 15, 1999, and April 30, 2001, and Wave 3, between April 1, 2001, and September 30, 2002. The TSCC is also included in Wave 4 data collection, which should be complete by March 31, 2004.
Subscales/Components
The subscales include anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, sexual concerns, dissociation, and anger. Only the PTSD section was administered in NSCAW.
Procedures for Administration
The TSCC was included the computer-assisted personal interview with the child, and the average administration time for these items was around 2 minutes.
Psychometrics/Data Quality
The psychometric information provided below is based on a sample of 3,008 children from three ethnically diverse, nonclinical samples in Illinois, Minnesota, and Colorado.
Internal consistency was high, with alphas ranging from .82 to .89.
Concurrent validity was tested with the CBCL and was found to be high (.72 to .80).
Reliability (using a standardization sample of 3,000 children in IL, CO, and MN) was found to be high (.87).
Convergent validity was found to be of good quality. CBCL youth report correlated with the post traumatic stress subscale at .75 at a p<.01 level.
Languages Available
The questionnaire module was administered in English and Spanish.
Items Included
The items are not provided in the documentation, by agreement with the publisher.
References and Source Documents
Some of the references listed below were cited in source documents if they were not readily available.
Achenbach, T.M. (1991a). Manual for the child behavior checklist 2–3 and 1991 profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Achenbach, T. (1991b). Manual for the child behavior checklist 4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Achenbach, T.M. (1991c). Manual for the youth self-report and 1991 profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Asher, S., & Wheeler, V. (1985). Children’s loneliness: A comparison of rejected and neglected peer status. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(4), 500–505.
Briere, J. (1996). Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children: Professional Manual. Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
Dowd, K., Kinsey, S., Wheeless, S., Thissen, R., Richardson, J., Suresh, R., Mierzwa, F., Biemer, P., Johnson, I., and Lytle, T. (2003, September). National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being: Combined Waves 1–3 data file user’s manual. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect.
Dowd, K., Kinsey, S., Wheeless, S., Thissen, R., Richardson, J., Mierzwa, F., & Biemer, P. (2002, May). National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being: Wave 1 Data File User’s Manual. National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Gresham, F.M., & Elliott, S.N. (1990). Social Skills Rating System. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Kovacs, M. (1992). Children’s Depression Inventory. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-health Systems, Inc.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth and Families (2001, June). National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being: Local Child Welfare Agency Survey: Report. Washington, D.C. URL: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/nscaw/index.html.
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