Although the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI) and Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ) are both useful for identifying adults at risk of developing acute and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they have not been validated in school-aged children. The present study aims at assessing the psychometric properties of the PDI and PDEQ in a sample of French-speaking school children.

One-hundred and thirty-three school-aged victims of road traffic accidents were consecutively enrolled into this study via the emergency room. Mean(SD) age was 11.7(2.2) and 56.4% (n=75) of them were of male gender. The 13-item self-report PDI (range 0-52) and the 10-item self report PDEQ (range 10-50) were assessed within one week of the accident. Symptoms of PTSD were assessed 1 and 6 months later using the 20-item self-report Child Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI) (range 0-80).

Mean(SD) PDI and PDEQ scores were 19.1(10.1) and 21.1(7.6), respectively, while mean(SD) CPTS-RI scores at 1- and 6-months were 22.6(12.4) and 20.6(13.5), respectively. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.8 and 0.77 for the PDI and PDEQ, respectively. The 1-month test-retest correlation coefficient (n=33) was 0.77 for both measures. The PDI demonstrated a 2-factor structure while the PDEQ displayed a 1-factor structure. As with adults, the two measures were inter-correlated (r=0.52) and correlated with subsequent PTSD symptoms (r=0.21−0.56; p< 0.05).

The PDI and PDEQ are reliable and valid in school-aged children, and predict PTSD symptoms.