The reliability and validity of a personal report of childhood abuse in senior high school students

Objective To develop a Personal Report of Childhood Abuse(PRCA) in senior high school students and study its reliability and validity.Methods 240 students of senior high school were assigned to fill the Personal Report of Childhood Abuse.The internal reliability,test-retest reliability and the validity of PRCA were then analysed.Results The Cronbach′s α coefficient of the PRCA was 0.75-0.90.The test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.32-0.59(P0.01).The correlation coefficient among the factors of PRCA ranged from 0.19 to 0.68(P0.01).The total score of PRCA was significantly related to autolesionism,suicide,suicidal idea and mental problems(r=0.22-0.40,P0.01).The prevalence of abuse was higher in female students than in male students(72.7% vs.52.6%,χ2=9.38,P0.01);and so was the total score of PRCA(141.7 vs.108.2,U=3.72,P0.01).Conclusion The present PRCA shows acceptable reliability and validity as a self-report measure for childhood abuse experience in senior high school students.