Assessment practices for measuring adverse life events (ALEs) are often characterized by considerable variability, which is associated with inconsistency and reproducibility issues when conducting research on children with ALE exposure. One aspect of assessment variability for caregiver report of children’s ALE history that has received minimal attention is assessment format. To address this issue, the current study evaluated concordance between two main ALE assessment formats: interviews and questionnaires. This involved examining overall endorsement of ALEs and concordance among multiple characteristics of ALE exposure, including type, polyvictimization, frequency, severity, and age of onset. Fifty-eight caregivers ( Mage = 33.72; 60% Black; 55% below the federal poverty line) of preschool and school-age children were administered an ALE assessment in both a questionnaire and interview format across two sessions. The sum scores and concordance rates between format responses were compared based on ALE type, polyvictimization, frequency, severity, and age of onset of exposure. Results indicated that most total or sum scores were similar between formats, with the exception of ALE severity scores. However, there was most often low-to-moderate concordance across the 50 types of ALEs examined in the current study, suggesting that a different constellation of events comprised each sum or total score. This was also the case across all characteristics of the ALEs and most notably for the severity of ALE. Based on these findings, the format of assessment may be associated with inconsistent reporting of children’s ALE exposure across multiple characteristics of ALE. Researchers may need to utilize multiple types of ALE assessments when relying on caregiver report of a child’s ALEs.

中文翻译：

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儿童接触不良生活事件的看护者报告：问卷和访谈方法之间的一致性

用于测量不良生活事件 (ALE) 的评估实践通常具有相当大的可变性，这在对 ALE 暴露儿童进行研究时与不一致和可重复性问题相关。照顾者对儿童 ALE 病史报告的评估变异性受到最少关注的一方面是评估格式。为了解决这个问题，当前的研究评估了两种主要 ALE 评估形式（访谈和问卷）之间的一致性。这涉及检查 ALE 的整体认可度以及 ALE 暴露的多个特征之间的一致性，包括类型、多重受害、频率、严重程度和发病年龄。五十八名护理人员（M年龄= 33.72； 60% 黑色； 55% 低于联邦贫困线）的学龄前儿童和学龄儿童在两次会议中以问卷和访谈的形式接受了 ALE 评估。根据 ALE 类型、多重受害、频率、严重程度和暴露发病年龄，比较格式反应之间的总分和一致性率。结果表明，除 ALE 严重程度分数外，大多数不同格式的总分或​​总分相似。然而，当前研究中检查的 50 种 ALE 之间通常存在低到中等的一致性，这表明每个总分或总分由不同的事件群组成。 ALE 的所有特征也是如此，尤其是 ALE 的严重程度。基于这些发现，评估的形式可能与儿童 ALE 暴露在多个 ALE 特征上的不一致报告有关。研究人员在依赖儿童 ALE 的护理人员报告时可能需要利用多种类型的 ALE 评估。