Evaluation of the psychometric properties of trauma history measures: assessment of reliability and validity

Objective: Psychological trauma is a pervasive, influential antecedent in a variety of mental health presentations; however, the comparative reliability and validity of long-standing self-report trauma history batteries remain unclear despite recent developments in trauma assessment. The present study employed both clinical and nonclinical samples to conduct a range of psychometric analyses on three of the most commonly used “legacy” measures of psychological trauma history: Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire(TLEQ), Trauma History Questionnaire, and Traumatic Events Questionnaire.

Method: Criterion and convergent validity were assessed along with test–retest reliability and social desirability effects. Participants were a treatment-seeking sample of mental health patients (N = 79; age = 46.5; 26.0% female) and a student sample (N = 136; age = 21.0; 82.7% female).

Results: Traumatic event scores on the measures correlated significantly with each other, indicating acceptable levels of convergent validity (r = .71–.82). Acceptable test–retest reliability was obtained in the student sample (intraclass correlation coefficients = .69–.78), despite several subscales exhibiting some temporal instability. Criterion validity produced a more complex picture. The TLEQ and Traumatic Events Questionnaire correlated significantly with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in both samples, whereas the Trauma History Questionnaire did not correlate with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in the student sample. All three batteries exhibited significant negative relationships with social desirability, indicating potential reporting bias.

Conclusions: Overall, the TLEQ emerged as the most robust legacy measure of trauma history. Future studies should assess its psychometrics in comparison with the new generation of measures (i.e., Life Events Checklist, International Trauma Exposure Measure) to further the development of assessment tools in this area.