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The William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute Psychological Trauma and Psychological Resources Scales is a preliminary measure for the assessment of psychological trauma and psychological health from a developmental perspective. This three-part article (1) discusses the various rationales leading to the development of the scales, (2) provides a factor-analysis of responses of 336 college students, and (3) addresses current (N = 37) and planned efforts to establish reliability and validity of a more refined version.

The Psychological Trauma and Psychological Resources Scale has been developed to identify adolescents and adults who have experienced traumatic events, i.e., physical, sexual, or emotional abuse and neglect. The scale also attempts to identify the presence of compensatory or resource factors such as social support that may serve to ameliorate the effects of traumatic events. 98 college participants who reported a history of abuse were compared with 464 nonabused students on the seven subscales. As predicted, the abused participants reported significantly more incidents of abuse and neglect than the nontraumatized group. In addition, the abused group reported receiving less emotional support, and they were less likely to use positive self-talk as a way to decrease emotional distress. These results provide empirical support for using the Psychological Trauma and Psychological Resources Scale to identify individuals with a history of abuse. Findings underscore the importance of assessing resource variables that may moderate the effects of abuse.

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