In the analyses a severity of abuse variable was also used: An overall rating for severity of abuse from birth to age 18 was assigned by reviewing the Conflict Tactics Scale second version [35], the Traumatic Stress Schedule [36], and the Childhood Traumatic Experiences Scales-Revised coded from one-hour semi-structured Adult Attachment Interview [37], and any history of state protective services involvement. The severity of abuse scale was coded as 0 - no occurrence of violence; 1 - harsh punishment or witnessed violence; 2 - emotional/verbal abuse; 3 - one type of physical or sexual abuse (using state guidelines for abuse), or protective services/foster care involvement; 4 - two or more forms of abuse/trauma out of the three listed previously. Reliability of the severity of abuse scale was assessed by having two coders independently rate 37 of the 99 participants on severity of abuse by reviewing the above set of assessments; reliability between the two coders assessed by intraclass correlation was high, ri = 0.99.
