The Wave 2 AUDADIS included items on the frequency of experiencing the five maltreatments (sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect and emotional neglect) before age 18 years at the hands of a parent or other adult in the respondent’s home. Response options for each item were: never (0), almost never (1), sometimes (2), somewhat often (3) and very often (4). The items and their underlying typology were drawn from widely used scales with good psychometric properties developed and validated against child welfare, family, and clinician reports [the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus et al. 1998; Straus & Douglas, 2004), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein et al. 1994, 1997; Thombs et al. 2007) and Wyatt (1985)] and combined into five scales representing the five maltreatment types. The NESARC test–retest reliability (ICCs=0.79–0.88) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alphas=0.78–0.90) of these scales is excellent (Ruan et al. 2008).
