Psychological assessment of interpersonal victimization effects in adults and children

Because clinical awareness of victimization effects is a relatively recent phenomenon, the field is only now developing assessment methodologies relevant to victims of interpersonal violence. This article reviews current information on the psychological assessment of children and adults with victimization histories, both in terms of general psychological tests such as the MMPI, Rorschach, and Child Behavior Checklist, and trauma-specific measures such as the Trauma Symptom Inventory, Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children, and Child Sexual Behavior Inventory. In addition, issues associated with overlapping traumas, symptom underreporting and overreporting, measurement distortion and misidentification effects, and psychometric quality are discussed.