Social Behavior and Personality
Volume 34, Issue 9, 2006, Pages 1101-1114

Cross-cultural validation of measures of traumatic symptoms in groups of asylum seekers from Chechnya, Afghanistan, and West Africa (Article)

Renner W.* , Salem I. , Ottomeyer K.
  • a Alps-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria, Institute of Psychology, Department of Social Psychology, Ethnopsychoanalysis and Psychotraumatology, Alps-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria, Department of Psychology, University of Klagenfurt, Universitätsstrasse 65-67, A-9020 Klagenfurt, Austria
  • b Alps-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria, Institute of Psychology, Department of Social Psychology, Ethnopsychoanalysis and Psychotraumatology, Alps-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria
  • c Alps-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria, Institute of Psychology, Department of Social Psychology, Ethnopsychoanalysis and Psychotraumatology, Alps-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria

Abstract

Internal consistencies and convergent validities of (a) the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25; Mollica, Wyshak, deMarneffe, Khuon, & Lavelle, 1987), (b) the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ; Mollica et al., 1992), (c) the Impact of Event Scale (IES-R; Weiss & Marmar, 1997), (d) the Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI; Mumford et al., 1991), (e) the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-1; Blake et al., 1990), and (f) the Social Adaptation Self-Evaluation Scale (SASS; Bosc, Dubini, & Polin, 1997), were determined in 150 asylum seekers from Chechnya, Afghanistan, and West Africa using diagnostic interviews as a criterion. For all the instruments, except the SASS, estimates of internal consistency were satisfactory. When used as a continuous measure of symptom frequency and intensity, the CAPS-1 had excellent convergent validity for all three ethnic groups, while formal PTSD criteria yielded high numbers of false negative diagnoses. Among the questionnaires, for Chechnyans the HTQ, and for Afghans and West Africans the IES-R achieved best results with respect to convergent validity. © Society for Personality Research (Inc.).

Author Keywords

Social adaptation self-evaluation scale Diagnostics Asylum seekers PTSD Validity

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33751436568&doi=10.2224%2fsbp.2006.34.9.1101&partnerID=40&md5=fe9695988c107c15cd64ec68cdf7ffe7
DOI: 10.2224/sbp.2006.34.9.1101
ISSN: 03012212
Cited by: 29
Original Language: English