Assessing Exposure to Psychological Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in the Juvenile Justice Population

Screening and assessment of traumatic stress and its psychosocial after-effects play an important role in a trauma-informed juvenile justice system. Trauma exposure and its negative consequences are highly prevalent among justice-involved youth. For example, a frequently replicated finding is that over 80 percent of detained youth report exposure to at least one potentially traumatic event and the majority of youth report multiple forms of victimization (e.g., Abram et al., 2004; Dierkhising et al., 2013; Ford et al., 2008; Kerig et al., 2011, 2012; Wood et al., 2002). Longitudinal research also demonstrates that childhood trauma is predictive of adolescent delinquency (Ford, Elhai, Connor, & Frueh, 2010) and that, once youth are on a delinquent course, trauma is associated with the severity of youths’ offenses and their likelihood of recidivism (see Kerig & Becker, 2014 for a review). Further, while youth are in detention, exposure to traumatic stressors is associated with problem behaviors which can endanger youths as well as staff (DeLisi et al., 2010). Consequently, trauma-informed screening and assessment have value in helping to align youth with the most appropriate interventions and services, directing scarce resources to those most in need, and increasing the physical and emotional safety of both youth and staff.