Measurement Equivalence of the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 for Chemically Dependent African American and Caucasian Women: A Preliminary Study

The Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (TSC-40) is a brief self-report measure of trauma-related symptoms. Using a confirmatory factor analysis framework, this preliminary study examined whether the TSC-40 provided a good fit for 50 African American and 52 Caucasian economically and educationally disadvantaged women enrolled in a residential treatment program. A 5-factor structure of the TSC-40 appeared to be more applicable for our sample than the original 6-factor model. This 5-factor model includes negative mood, interpersonal problems, sleep disturbance, dissociative-like symptoms, and sexual problems. Equivalent factor structure and factor loadings emerged for the two ethnic and racial groups. Implications pertaining to trauma assessment are discussed.