TY - JOUR
T1 - Retrospective assessment of childhood sexual and physical abuse
T2 - A comparison of scaled and behaviorally specific approaches
AU - DiLillo, David
AU - Fortier, Michelle A.
AU - Hayes, Sarah A.
AU - Trask, Emily
AU - Perry, Andrea R.
AU - Messman-Moore, Terri
AU - Fauchier, Angèle
AU - Nash, Cindy
PY - 2006/9
Y1 - 2006/9
N2 - This study compared retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse as assessed by two measures: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), which uses a Likert-type scaling approach, and the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI), which employs a behaviorally specific means of assessment. Participants included 1,195 undergraduate students recruited from three geographically diverse universities. Agreement was high across the two measures in the classification of victim status (92% and 80% for sexual and physical abuse, respectively). However, the CTQ classified more participants as sexually abused than did the CAMI, whereas the opposite trend was found for physical abuse. For child physical abuse, many participants reporting abusive acts on the CAMI scored below the cut-point for physical abuse on the CTQ. Classification differences for both types of abuse were largely unrelated to demographic factors, socially desirable responding, or self-reported withholding of information. The implications of these results are discussed in light of future research using retrospective methods of assessing childhood abuse.
AB - This study compared retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse as assessed by two measures: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), which uses a Likert-type scaling approach, and the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI), which employs a behaviorally specific means of assessment. Participants included 1,195 undergraduate students recruited from three geographically diverse universities. Agreement was high across the two measures in the classification of victim status (92% and 80% for sexual and physical abuse, respectively). However, the CTQ classified more participants as sexually abused than did the CAMI, whereas the opposite trend was found for physical abuse. For child physical abuse, many participants reporting abusive acts on the CAMI scored below the cut-point for physical abuse on the CTQ. Classification differences for both types of abuse were largely unrelated to demographic factors, socially desirable responding, or self-reported withholding of information. The implications of these results are discussed in light of future research using retrospective methods of assessing childhood abuse.
KW - Assessment
KW - Physical abuse
KW - Retrospective
KW - Sexual abuse
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33746575676&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33746575676&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1073191106288391
DO - 10.1177/1073191106288391
M3 - Article
C2 - 16880281
AN - SCOPUS:33746575676
SN - 1073-1911
VL - 13
SP - 297
EP - 312
JO - Assessment
JF - Assessment
IS - 3
ER -