Childhood traumatic experiences: A scale development study

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for qualitative evaluation of childhood traumatic experiences of adults based on the framework of the book "Çocuk Yetiştirirken Travmatik Yanlışlar - Geliştiren Doğrular'' by Professor Medaim Yanık. First, an item pool that contains various traumatic experiences is prepared. The content validity of these items is then ensured through consultation from an expert team. Based on 39 items with content validity, a scale/measurement tool, which is named as Childhood Traumatic Experiences Scale (ÇÇTYÖ), is created. This scale gathers information on whether the individual had an exposure to traumatic experiences, the age at which the exposure took place, and how much it affected the individual. To test the resarch questions of interest, ÇÇTYÖ, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMIOÖ) and Short Form of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OMÖ-KF) are applied to 448 participants, which are adult men and women over the age of 18 from various provinces within the borders of Turkey. Collected data is analyzed with the SPSS 22 and Mplus programs. The construct validity, concurrent validity and discriminant validity of the scale, the item-total correlation analysis of which is performed, are tested. Then, for the reliability analysis, the internal consistency coefficient is examined. These analyses confirm that Childhood Traumatic Experiences Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool. ROC analysis (Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve) is performed to determine the cut-off point of the scale whose validity and reliability is proven, and it is found that the cut-off score is 8.5. It is found that childhood traumatic experiences do not differ significantly in terms of demographic variables (gender, age, marital status, educational status, medical and mental illness history. Finally, it is seen that the age of exposure and the time passed after it has a negative effect on the level of influence of the traumatic experience.