Publication Date

1997

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

LCSH

Post-traumatic stress disorder; Young women--Mental health

Abstract

Although Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been an official diagnostic category since the emergence o f the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual o f Mental Disorders 3rd edition (DSM-III) in 1980, self-report measures to aid in the diagnosis of PTSD are still lacking for certain populations. Much research on PTSD and its diagnosis through self-report measures has focused exclusively on Vietnam or other combat veterans. More recently, research has begun to address the assessment o f PTSD in other, non-combat populations such as crime victims, survivors o f sexual and physical abuse, and survivors o f natural disasters. Although advances have been made in this area, little research exists on the assessment o f PTSD in non-clinical, college-age samples. The current study examined the sensitivity and specificity o f a self-report version o f the PTSDInterview. Seventy-six college-age women were administered the self-report version of the PTSD-Interview (the PTSD-Questionnaire) and were then interviewed later with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). Cut points on the PTSDQuestionnaire for PTSD risk status were initially set based on data collected from 606 college-age females. Participants with a score of 60 or higher on the PTSD-Questionnaire were classified as high-risk. Participants with a score o f 40 or lower were classified as low-risk. Participants with a score o f 41 to 59 were classified as moderate-risk. It was hypothesized that the PTSD-Questionnaire has good reliability and adequate sensitivity and specificity when compared to other self-report measures o f PTSD. Results supported the hypothesis that the sensitivity and specificity o f the PTSD-Questionnaire were similar to that of other self-report measures of PTSD used with other populations, but only when participants reported the same traumatic event on both the PTSD-Questionnaire and during the SCID-IV interview.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages [50]-55)

Extent

iv, 59 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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