Clinical validation of a Chinese translation of the parent tic questionnaire.

Background: The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), although extensively utilised in China for evaluating tic disorders (TD), relies exclusively on clinician-administered assessments. At present, no parent-report instruments validated in the Chinese context are available for assessing tics. The Parent Tic Questionnaire (PTQ), originally developed as the first parent-rated tool for TD symptom evaluation, has yet to undergo validation in any Asian language.

Methods: A total of 414 children and adolescents aged 2-16 years with a TD diagnosis were recruited. The PTQ, YGTSS, Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-48) and Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) were administered to examine the psychometric characteristics of the PTQ.

Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the PTQ motor, vocal and total tic subscales were 0.789, 0.821 and 0.849, indicating satisfactory internal consistency. Strong correlations were observed between PTQ total scores and YGTSS scores. A cut-off score of 14 on the PTQ emerged as the most appropriate threshold for differentiating between mild and moderate TD. The content validity index further demonstrated high validity for the Chinese PTQ.

Conclusions: The validated Chinese version of the PTQ exhibits robust psychometric properties and provides clinically informative metrics for tic severity stratification, establishing a foundation for score standardisation in routine assessments.