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Reliability of self‐reported trauma exposure among people with heroin dependence: A longitudinal investigation
Author(s) -
Mills Katherine,
Teesson Maree,
Darke Shane,
Ross Joanne
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20219
Subject(s) - heroin , psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , posttraumatic stress , recall , anxiety disorder , injury prevention , reliability (semiconductor) , poison control , medicine , drug , medical emergency , anxiety , cognitive psychology , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
Estimates of trauma exposure rely almost exclusively on retrospective self‐reports; however, the reliability of these reports has received little attention. The present study examined the reliability of self‐reported lifetime trauma exposure among 309 dependent heroin users over 2 years, and the factors associated with inconsistent recall. The correlation between the number of events reported at baseline and follow‐up was .72; however, 87% of the sample reported at least one event inconsistently. Variability in reporting was associated with trauma type, a lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. These findings suggest that dependent heroin users are moderately reliable in their reports of trauma exposure, and their reports of trauma exposure are as reliable as those of nonsubstance use disordered samples.