The SSAGA-IV and C-SSAGA-IV interview schedules contain a lifetime trauma checklist of PTSD-qualifying experiences and an assessment for establishing the PTSD diagnosis according to DSM-IV criteria. For the current study, participants who endorsed having been shot, stabbed, mugged or threatened with a weapon, held captive and/or tortured or kidnapped were considered victims of physical assault. Sexual assault was defined as rape or other sexual assault. Non-assaultive trauma involved experiencing a natural disaster, a life-threatening accident, and/or unexpectedly discovering a dead body. Finally, participants who had witnessed firsthand the death or serious injury of another person were coded as witnessed violence. Traumatic experiences were operationalized by selecting the first experience of physical, sexual, non-assaultive trauma, and witnessed violence that the participant endorsed, and the age at which they first reported the event.
