Validation of the Global Psychotrauma Screen for adolescents in Greece

Abstract

Introduction

Adolescents are vulnerable to traumatic exposure. However, there is a lack of developmentally appropriate, freely accessible, transdiagnostic screening instruments for trauma in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric potential of the Global Psychotrauma Screen Teen version (GPS-T) for the assessment of traumatic, dissociative, and other transdiagnostic symptoms among adolescents in Greece.

Method

This observational study was conducted with adolescents in Greece (N = 122) who completed a 55-item questionnaire.

Results

The results supported satisfactory internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, and divergent validity of the GPS-T. The construct validity findings suggested a three-factor structure of the GPS-T symptoms. The GPS-T domains had acceptable sensitivity and specificity with the cut-off scores of 3 for PTSD and 2 for the dissociation, anxiety, and depression domains respectively. The GPS-T symptoms differed on four levels of severity.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that the GPS-T is appropriate for screening of traumatic, dissociative, and other transdiagnostic symptoms among adolescents in Greece. Future research should conduct a replication with larger samples and a test-retest phase.