Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2010

Publication Title

Journal of Traumatic Stress

Abstract

The Critical Incident History Questionnaire indexes cumulative exposure to traumatic incidents in police by examining incident frequency and rated severity. In over 700 officers, event severity was negatively correlated (rs = -61) with frequency of exposure. Cumulative exposure indices that varied emphasis on frequency and severity-using both nomothetic and idiographic methods-all showed satisfactory psychometric properties and similar correlates. All indices were only modestly related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Ratings of incident severity were not influenced by whether officers had ever experienced the incident. Because no index summarizing cumulative exposure to trauma had superior validity, our findings suggest that precision is not increased if frequency is weighted by severity.

Volume

23

Issue

6

First Page

734

Last Page

743

DOI

10.1002/jts.20576

ISSN

08949867

Rights

© The Author(s) 2010

Comments

Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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