Scoring the Life Events Checklist: Comparison of three scoring methods.

Abstract

Objective: Prior trauma history is a reliable and robust risk predictor for PTSD development. Obtaining an accurate measurement of prior trauma history is critical in research of trauma-related outcomes. The Life Events Checklist (LEC) is a widely used self-report measure of trauma history that categorizes events by the proximity to trauma exposure; however, the field has published multiple scoring methods when assessing the LEC. Herein, we propose a novel scoring procedure in which total scores from the LEC are weighted according to the proximity of trauma exposure with "experienced" events weighted most and "learned about" events weighted least. Method: The utility of this weighted score was assessed in two traumatically-injured civilian samples and compared against previously published scoring methods, including a nonweighted score including all events experienced, witnessed, and learned about, as well as a score consisting of only experienced events. Results: Results indicated the standard total score was most reliable, followed by the weighted score. The experienced events score was least reliable, but the best predictor of future PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: One method to balance the predictive strength of experienced events and the excellent reliability of a total LEC score, is to adopt the newly proposed weighted score. Future use of this weighted scoring method can provide a comprehensive estimate of lifetime trauma exposure while still emphasizing the direct proximity of experienced events compared with other degrees of exposure. Clinical Impact StatementThe Life Events Checklist (LEC) is a widely used self-report measure of trauma history that categorizes events by the proximity of trauma exposure; however, the field has published multiple scoring methods for the LEC. We proposed a novel scoring procedure in which total scores are weighted according to the proximity of trauma exposure with "experienced" events weighted most and "learned about" events weighted least. Results assessed in two traumatically injured civilian samples indicated the weighted score is reliable and valid. Future utilization of this scoring method will provide a comprehensive estimate of lifetime trauma while emphasizing proximity of trauma exposure.

Harmonizing PTSD severity scales across instruments and sites.

“…GTP: the Grady trauma project (Gillespie et al, 2009). iSTAR: imaging study of trauma and resilience (Weis et al, 2022). TSS: the McLean trauma spectrum study (Lebois et al, 2021).…”

Racial Discrimination and Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Salience Network Nodes in Trauma-Exposed Black Adults in the United States

“…The LEC ranges from 0 to 102, with higher scores indicating more exposure and closer proximity to traumatic events. A newly developed scoring method 57 was used in which the total score was weighted according to proximity to the trauma exposure.…”

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and the Neurobiology of Uncertainty in Traumatically Injured Adults

“…A total of 215 participants who recently experienced a traumatic injury were recruited from an Emergency Department at an urban level 1 trauma center as part of a longitudinal observational study investigating neurobiological and socio-environmental predictors of PTSD [iSTAR study ( 8 , 27 – 29 )]. Individuals were considered eligible if they were between the ages of 18 and 65 years old, were English speaking, had no contraindications for magnetic resonance imaging scanning, and had not sustained a head injury more severe than a mild traumatic brain injury.…”