Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), psychological flexibility and psychological adjustment problems: Turkish validation of the PTSD checklist for short form DSM‐5 (PCL‐5-S)

Abstract

Despite the existence of abbreviated versions of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist (PCL-5), the lack of evidence regarding the validation of this measure has become a limitation in research. This study examined the Turkish validation of the PCL-5, which is a recently developed measure of an optimal short‐form of the PTSD Checklist for DSM‐5. Also, the study aimed to investigate how psychological flexibility mediates the association between PTSD and psychological adjustment problems. This cross-sectional study consisted of 568 young adults (50.5 % males) aged between 18 and 60 years (M = 27.92, SD = 9.26). The results indicated that the PCL-5-S had good internal consistency reliability and high construct validity. The findings also revealed that PTSD was negatively associated with psychological flexibility and positively associated with psychological adjustment problems. Additionally, psychological flexibility was negatively associated with psychological adjustment problems. Furthermore, mediation findings showed that psychological flexibility partially mediated the association between PTSD and psychological adjustment problems. These findings suggest that the PCL-5-S is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the presence of PTSD symptoms in Turkish populations. Furthermore, intervention programs targeting psychological flexibility could be developed to reduce the symptoms of psychological maladjustment problems by addressing PTSD symptoms.