Journal of Pediatric Psychology 31(4) pp. 420–430, 2006 doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj039

Objective To review measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) for children and adolescents. Methods We reviewed broad-based child mental health journals within the disciplines of pediatrics, child psychology, and trauma, from 1995 to 2004, to identify measures of PTSD and PSS for children and adolescents. The review includes a summary of the psychometric properties and associated features of the measures and the clinical domains and types of studies using each measure. Results Seven measures of PTSD and PSS were identified, including clinician-administered interviews and self-report questionnaires. Sixty-five articles containing the measures were categorized into eight trauma domains. We found there is little consensus over measures used within each trauma domain. Conclusions Few measures of PTSD and PSS have been designed specifically for young people. Further directions for measurement of PTSD in this age group are discussed to prevent under-diagnosis and under-treatment for youth. Key words adolescent; assessment; children; posttraumatic stress disorder; trauma. Understanding how children experience such events as war, violence, and abuse requires the use of measures and procedures able to detect posttraumatic stress disor-der (PTSD). Since 1987, when the diagnosis of PTSD was extended to children and adolescents (referred to as youth), efforts to study youth reaction to possible stres-sors have used a variety of methods. As a result, it is dif-ficult to characterize the prevalence of PTSD or to accurately assess PTSD among youth in response to apparent increasing rates of traumatic events worldwide. Youth have been found to experience posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) from many types of event