Validation of the child posttraumatic symptom scale in a sample of treatment-seeking Israeli youth

We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the Child Posttraumatic Symptom Scale (CPSS), a self-report measure assessing the severity of posttraumatic distress in youth. Participants (N= 156, ages 8-18) were treatment-seeking victims of diverse traumas. Internal consistency of the Hebrew version in these data was .91 for the total score, .77 for intrusion, .67 for avoidance, and .72 for arousal, similar to the original version. Test-retest reliability over 1 week in a subsample of 45 was r = .81. The point biserial correlation with a clinician-based diagnosis of PTSD was .54. Other convergent and divergent relationships expand the existing literature on the measure and support it as a valuable assessment tool for children exposed to traumatic events.