Descriptive information was collected about the first event as well as the worst event (if applicable) including age at time of event and whether the participant thought they might be seriously injured or killed, experienced a panic attack during or shortly after the event, and/or experienced emotions of fear, anger, sadness, horror, violation of trust or embarrassment/shame during the event. Endorsement of fear of death or serious injury, experience of panic or other emotions was used to determine whether DSM-IV A2 criterion was met. In summary, the strategy used for assessment of exposure to stressful events was considerably more comprehensive than that typically used in many epidemiological studies, which often use checklists of events with limited introductions or follow-up probes. Therefore, it is likely that the approach used in the National Stressful Events Survey resulted in greater disclosure of traumatic events than would have occurred had a simple checklist of events been used.
