The psychometric properties of childhood physical and sexual abuse measures in two Canadian samples of youth and emerging adults

INTRODUCTION: Child maltreatment is prevalent in Canada; how we measure it varies. The objective of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire Short Form (CEVQ-SF) physical and sexual abuse measures and of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 2-item sexual abuse measure, compared with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) in two samples of adolescents and young adults. METHODS: Retrospective, self-reported child abuse history was collected in the British Columbia Healthy Connections Project (BCHCP) and in the Well-Being and Experiences (WE) Study. Internal consistency, criterion validity, and construct validity were examined. RESULTS: Across both samples, the prevalence of child physical abuse (CPA) and child sexual abuse (CSA) ranged from 12.5% to 41.4% and from 5.8% to 34.3%, respectively. Internal consistencies were good-to-acceptable for CPA using the CEVQ-SF in the BCHCP (α = 0.83) and the WE Study (α = 0.79) and for CSA using the CEVQ-SF in the WE Study (α = 0.68). For CPA, in both studies, the highest agreement-moderate-to-fair-was between CEVQ-SF severe CPA and CTQ moderate CPA: κ=0.63 (BCHCP) and κ= 0.35 (WE Study). For CSA, agreement with CTQ moderate cut-offs was substantial in the BCHCP (κ=0.77) and fair in the WE Study (κ=0.37). DISCUSSION: Our findings support current and future use of the CEVQ-SF for CPA, and for CSA, using both the CEVQ-SF and the CCHS-CSA measure, given that they had good psychometric properties when administered to two samples of adolescents and young adults.