The PDS is a 49-item self-report instrument designed to assess the presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms, based on DSM-IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994, 2000). Respondents report if they have experienced any of 12 traumatic events, including an “other” category, and then indicate which event was most disturbing. Respondents also rate the frequency (0 = “not at all” or “only one time” to 3 = “five or more times a week/almost always”) of 17 PTSD symptoms experienced in the past month in relation to the most-disturbing event endorsed (total score range of 0 to 51); these 17 symptom items are summed to assess posttraumatic stress symptom severity. The PDS is a measure of trauma-related symptoms with generally excellent psychometric properties (Foa, Cashman, Jaycox, & Perry, 1997; Foa, Riggs, Dancu, & Rothbaum, 1993). In this study, the PDS was utilized to: (1) index DSM-IV PTSD Criterion A traumatic event exposure, (2) assess posttraumatic stress symptom severity, and (3) assess diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Prior work has demonstrated that the PDS has high internal consistency (alpha = .92) and test-retest reliability (kappa = .74). In the present sample, the PDS (total symptom severity score) demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha = .95).
