Psychometric validation of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) in a Danish clinical sample

Abstract

BackgroundThe Childhood Trauma Questionnaire – Short Form (CTQ-SF) is a widely utilized self-report instrument in the assessment and characterization of childhood trauma. Yet, research on the instrument’s psychometric properties in clinical samples is sparse, and the Danish version of the CTQ-SF has not been previously evaluated in clinical samples. ObjectivesTo examine the structural validity, internal consistency reliability, and multi-method convergent validity of the CTQ-SF in a heterogenous clinical sample from Denmark. Participants and settingThe study was based on data from four Danish clinical samples (N = 393): 1) Outpatients diagnosed with personality disorders, 2) Patients commencing psychiatric treatment for non-affective first-episode psychosis, 3) Patients diagnosed with first-episode or prolonged depression recruited from general practitioners and an outpatient mood disorder clinic, and 4) detained delinquent boys. MethodsConfirmatory factor analysis was used to explore structural validity. Also, we calculated internal consistency and multi-method convergent validity with interview-based ratings of adverse parenting. ResultsConfirmatory factor analyses indicated that the five-factor structure described in CTQ-SF manual with three error correlated items best fitted the data, as compared to various other models. Coefficients of congruence also supported factorial similarity across countries (i.e. US substance abuser and a mixed Brazilian sample). Internal consistency reliability was acceptable and comparable to estimates previously published. Multi-method convergent validity associations further corroborated the validity of the CTQ-SF. ConclusionThese findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the Danish version of the CTQ-SF in clinical samples.