Acute Stress Checklist for Children (ASC-Kids)

Summary   

The ASC-Kids is a brief self report measure of acute traumatic stress reactions (including ASD diagnostic criteria) in children and adolescents aged 8-17. It has 29 items relating to the ASD diagnostic criteria and associated features.

Completing the measure takes about 5 minutes.

Designed as self-report, but can be read to children age 8 -- 10 (or if reading comprehension is a concern).
A Spanish version is available -- validation study is underway.

Key features and uses: Brief child self-report, practical for administration in community settings within first month of exposure to acute event

Author/publisher details   

Nancy Kassam-Adams
Center for Injury Research & Prevention
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
3535 Market St., Suite 1150
Philadelphia, PA 19104.

E-mail: nlkaphd@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Date   

2006

Description   

The Acute Stress Checklist for Children (ASC-Kids) is a 29 item questionnaire designed to assess child acute stress reactions within the first month after exposure to a potentially traumatic event. Most items are rated on a 3 point Likert scale (Never/ Not at all; Sometimes/Somewhat; Often/Very much).

The ASC-Kids is a stand-alone self-report measure suitable for use by children age 8 and older. For children 10 and younger, it may be helpful to read the items aloud while the child completes the answer on his/her own form.

25 ASC-Kids items assess DSM-IV criteria for Acute stress disorder (Criterion A2, symptom criteria, and impairment). 4 additional items ask about associated features that may be useful clinically (subjective life threat, family context, and coping).

Language   

Versions are available in English and Spanish.

Please contact the author for Spanish version and information on this translation. Validation is underway during 2008.

Scoring and Psychometrics   

Scoring
All items are scored as 0-1-2 (with 2 items reverse scored). An item rated as "2" (very or often true) is considered to be a positive item when assessing presence of diagnostic criteria.

The ASC-Kids Symptom Scale is a continuous severity score (sum of 19 symptom items). The measure can also be scored for the presence of each DSM-IV diagnostic criterion for ASD.

Psychometrics
Test retest reliability within 1 week = .76 for symptom scale (.83 for sum of all 29 items).
Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) = .85 for symptom scale (.86 for sum of all 29 items).
Convergent validity with PTSD symptom scale (r = .77)
Predictive validity to PTSD symptoms 4 months later (r = .61)
Moderate correlation with parent rating of child acute stress symptoms (r=.37)

Key/Core References   

Kassam-Adams, N. (2006). The acute stress checklist for children (ASC-Kids): Development of a child self-report measure. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 19(1), 129-139.

Further Information   

Further information:
Nancy Kassam-Adams
E-mail: nlkaphd@mail.med.upenn.edu

View manual   

There is no manual for the ASC-Kids it is used in the same way as other self report scales and is self explanatory. For advice on interpretation, see above and refer to key references.

View tool   

This resource should be used in an ethical and responsible manner and should be used only for the purpose(s) for which it has demonstrable validity. Please observe copyright where indicated and reference it appropriately.

ISTSS Members: Download ASC-Kids