Development and validation of a measure of early adverse experiences: Childhood Adversity Scale

Abstract

Introduction Childhood adversities disrupt the healthy development of children and often have long-term effects on their physical and mental health in adulthood. Identifying them is essential; however, the majority of the existing tools do not adequately capture their diversity and complexity. Moreover, although the age at which adversities occur and their subjective impacts are known to be important, many instruments fail to assess these dimensions.Methods To address these gaps, a new scale was developed based on a review of 300 client files from individuals diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID). The scale items were derived from types of childhood adversity commonly associated with the formation of alternate identities. Psychometric evaluation was conducted using data from three independent samples.Results Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with the first sample (n = 338) indicated that a single factor explained more than half of the total variance, supporting a unidimensional structure for the 59-item scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the second sample (n = 413), refined using modification indices, demonstrated good model fit. Convergent validity was evaluated in a third sample (n = 125) using the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scale. A significant positive correlation was found between the Childhood Adversity Scale (CAS) and ACE, indicating strong convergent validity.Discussion This suggests that CAS is a reliable and valid tool that both clinicians and researchers can use for a comprehensive assessment of childhood adverseness.