The influence of different criteria for establishing optimal cutoff scores on performance of two self-report measures for warzone PTSD.

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been regarded as a signature injury of war and elevated to one of the major behavioral health problems faced by military service members and veterans deployed to warzones. In PTSD diagnosis, self-report measures have often been used with a cutoff score to identify those with an elevated likelihood of having PTSD prior to conducting a second-tier diagnostic interview. With an attempt to guide the selection of cutoffs in self-report PTSD measures for various purposes, this study examined how five common criteria for establishing an optimal cutoff influenced the performance of self-report measures for warzone PTSD in relation to the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) and whether the influence differed for the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 and the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD. Using a probability sample of Vietnam theater veterans in the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study, results showed that in both self-report measures, the Youden Index criterion yielded the optimal cutoff that led to better test performance. (PsycINFO Database Record