While single item trauma questions are typically included in these studies, additional behavioral assessment may allow for a more comprehensive query of specific occurrences that may have been experienced during childhood (e.g. harsh punishment) and have been shown to detect an increased number of CPA cases (Carlin et al., 1994; Silvern, Waelde, Baughan, Karyl, & Kaersvang, 2000). As behaviors operationally defined as physical abuse by investigators may not be categorized as such by the respondents, discrepancies between behavioral assessment and trauma checklist responses may exist. Conversely, the trauma checklist may serve as a more anonymous or generic form of assessment allowing individuals to endorse physical abuse without directly describing the event or implicating a perpetrator.
