We investigated the psychometric properties of the modified 8-item Chinese version of the Revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C-R) among 3256 adolescents in Chengdu, China, after the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008. The PTGI-C-R showed good reliability (Cronbach's α = .86; composite reliability = 0.87). A single factor was extracted by exploratory factor analysis and confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis in 2 randomly split half subsamples. Multigroup analyses showed that the single-factor structure was stable across gender groups and age groups (age <15 years and ≥15 years). The PTGI-C-R was negatively correlated with depression (r = -0.21) and positively correlated with resilience, social support, and perceived importance of health, family, and friendship (r ranged from 0.34 to 0.40). Our findings support the idea that the PTGI-C-R is a reliable and valid measure of posttraumatic growth among Chinese adolescents having experienced a natural disaster. Validation of the scale in the context of other traumatic events is warranted.
Keywords: Chinese; Sichuan earthquake; adolescents; posttraumatic growth; validation.
© 2013 APJPH.