PTSD Symptom Checklist for Parents (YCPC) Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Not at all
- Once a week or less / from time to time
- 4 times a week / about half the time
- 5 or more times a week / almost always
- Every day
- Not at all
- Once a week or less / occasionally
- 4 times a week / about half the time
- 5 or more times a week / almost all the time
- Every day
- Not at all
- Once a week or less / occasionally
- 4 times a week / half the time
- 5 or more times a week / almost always
- Every day
PTSD Symptom Checklist for Parents (YCPC) Test - Description and methodology of the test
For parents trying to understand a child’s reactions after a traumatic event, this PTSD Symptom Checklist for Parents (YCPC) Test summarizes parent-observed symptom presence and severity. It is intended for adults using this parent PTSD checklist to describe changes in play, sleep, mood, attention, closeness, relationships, or everyday functioning. The result can help a parent describe concerns clearly, with functional concerns reflected in the items.
What This Assessment Explores
The questionnaire measures parent-observed PTSD symptoms in children after a traumatic event. Its definition emphasizes symptom presence and severity observed by a parent, including reactions a young child may not describe. The tool suits adults observing changes across home, school, peer, and community settings.
The questions cover these areas:
- Re-experiencing includes intrusive memories, trauma-themed play, nightmares, and apparent reliving.
- Avoidance and emotional change include avoiding reminders, memory gaps, withdrawal, reduced interest, and limited expression.
- Arousal and regression include sleep problems, irritability, poor concentration, vigilance, startle, aggression, clinging, fears, night terrors, and lost skills.
- Functional impact shows whether symptoms disrupt relationships, school, public activities, or emotional wellbeing.
The displayed scale is PTSD Symptom Checklist for Parents: 0-100. Bands are Low symptoms 0-33, Moderate symptoms 34-66, and High symptoms 67-100. They describe the level represented by the parent’s reported score.
Methodology and Scientific Basis
The online questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the Young Child PTSD Checklist (YCPC, Scheeringa, 2013), a parent-report instrument describing trauma-related behavior in young children, but it is not that published instrument or a standardized adaptation and does not inherit its norms, reliability, or diagnostic evidence. Most items ask how often a symptom occurs, from not at all or rarely to almost always or every day. The final items ask how often difficulties interfere with relationships, school, activities, or distress.
The item-by-item conversion is not stated, so points per answer should not be inferred from the displayed score. As a child trauma checklist, this questionnaire organizes observed symptoms and impairment; its numerical result summarizes the reported level without a documented calculation that can be reconstructed from individual choices.
The evidence base includes the 2012 empirical comparison by Scheeringa, Myers, Putnam, and Zeanah and the 1995 study by Scheeringa, Zeanah, Drell, and Larrieu. These sources support the conceptual focus on early-childhood trauma symptoms; they do not establish separate norms, reliability estimates, or diagnostic accuracy for this online presentation. Parent memory, interpretation, current stress, and the child’s context can affect responses. Ongoing concerns warrant broader assessment.
- Scheeringa, M. S. (2013). Young Child PTSD Checklist. New Orleans, LA: Tulane University School of Medicine.
- Scheeringa, M. S., Myers, L., Putnam, F. W., & Zeanah, C. H. (2012). Diagnosing PTSD in early childhood: An empirical assessment of four approaches. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(4), 359-367. 10.1002/jts.21723
- Scheeringa, M. S., Zeanah, C. H., Drell, M. J., & Larrieu, J. A. (1995). Two approaches to the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder in infancy and early childhood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34(2), 191-200. 10.1097/00004583-199502000-00014
Updated: