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Traumatic Situations Questionnaire (LEQ)3

Traumatic Situations Questionnaire (LEQ) Test

This 38-question self-report assessment takes about 7 minutes. The Traumatic Situations Questionnaire (LEQ) Test reviews traumatic events across the lifespan, while its overall-impact result concerns the past year. It also shows event exposure and vulnerability to the stressful impact of events, giving you a structured basis for self-reflection about your experiences.

Questions: 387 minutes

Traumatic Situations Questionnaire (LEQ): situation and reply bubbles

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Overall Impact ScoreOIS

Measures the overall degree to which all reported traumatic events have influenced the person’s life over the past year.

example score25/190

25/190Low influenceexample score

0 – 63Low influence

64 – 126Moderate influence

127 – 190High influence

A score of 25 falls in the Low influence range, suggesting a relatively small cumulative impact of traumatic events on life over the past year compared with higher scores.

Total Number of EventsTNoE

This scale counts how many traumatic or highly stressful events a person reports across their lifetime.

example score10/38

10/38Low exposureexample score

0 – 12Low exposure

13 – 25Moderate exposure

26 – 38High exposure

A score of 10 indicates a low overall number of reported traumatic events relative to the full range of this scale.

Traumaticity IndexTI

The Trauma Index measures the average intensity of impact from traumatic life events and related vulnerability to stress reactions.

example score2/5

2/5Moderate impactexample score

0 – 1.9Low impact

2 – 2.9Moderate impact

3 – 5High impact

A score of 2 indicates a moderate average traumatic impact, suggesting some stress-related burden without reaching the level typically associated with post-traumatic stress signs on this index.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Clients starting therapy

41%OF USERS

People beginning counseling take it to map how past difficult events may be shaping their current emotions, beliefs, and relationships.

People with stress symptoms

34%OF USERS

Those experiencing anxiety, low mood, nightmares, or irritability use it to check whether unresolved trauma could be contributing to their symptoms.

Researchers and clinicians

25%OF USERS

Psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers use it for quick screening and for tracking trauma exposure in clinical or study settings.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Total influence scoreTis

You?

Average70.7

Typical rangeTypical39.5 – 101.9

Possible0 – 190

Total number of eventsTnoe

You?

Average11.1

Typical rangeTypical5.4 – 16.7

Possible0 – 38

Trauma IndexTI

You?

Average3.7

Typical rangeTypical3.1 – 4.4

Possible0 – 5

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

The questions below concern severe, stressful life events. The purpose is to determine whether such events have occurred in your life and, if so, how often and to what extent these experiences are affecting you now. The questionnaire is divided into sets of questions addressing criminal events, natural disasters, and general traumatic situations. It also includes questions about physical and sexual violence or abuse. When answering, please try to consider all periods of your life. Select “Never” if the event (situation) described has never occurred in your life. If an event has occurred, please use the scale to rate how strongly each event has affected your life during the past year. If a given event (situation) occurred more than once, base your rating on the instance that had the greatest impact on you.

- Never
- Not at all
- Very little
- Moderately
- Very much
- Extremely
- Never
- Not at all
- Very little
- Moderately
- Very much
- Extremely
- Never
- Not at all
- Very little
- Moderately
- Very much
- Extremely

These are 3 of the 38 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Traumatic Situations Questionnaire (LEQ) Test - Description and methodology of the test

abuse

psychopathology

ptsd

People who want to organize distressing experiences can use this assessment to examine what happened and how those events matter now. The Traumatic Situations Questionnaire (LEQ) Test is intended for people seeking a structured review of severe experiences. This questionnaire is a trauma exposure test that places lifetime event history beside past-year overall impact and a separate indication of subjective vulnerability.

What This Assessment Explores

These questions address threats to safety, health, relationships, security, and basic care, while asking how strongly each experience affected the respondent. As a traumatic situations questionnaire, it separates event count from reported burden, showing whether frequent exposure and strong subjective impact occur together.

The three displayed scales provide complementary dimensions:

Overall Impact Score (0-190) reflects the impact of traumatic events on life during the past year: Low influence 0-63, Moderate influence 64-126, High influence 127-190.
Total Number of Events (0-38) reflects traumatic events experienced over the lifespan: Low exposure 0-12, Moderate exposure 13-25, High exposure 26-38.
Traumaticity Index (0-5) assesses vulnerability to stressful impact and subjective intensity: Low impact 0-1.9, Moderate impact 2-2.9, High impact 3-5.

Together, these results show whether extensive exposure is also experienced as strongly disruptive, without reducing the respondent’s history to one label.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

Each item presents a potentially traumatic situation with six ordered responses, usually moving from Never or no effect toward increasing impact. The format combines event occurrence with graded self-report rather than a narrative interview.

Scoring produces the displayed indicators: event count reflects exposure, the overall-impact result reflects the impact of traumatic events on life during the past year, and the index is the mean impact of traumatic events. Higher index values indicate greater vulnerability and subjective intensity; scores above 3 indicate posttraumatic stress symptoms, whereas scores below 2 indicate their absence.

The original Life Events Questionnaire (LEQ) by Edna B. Foa and Terence M. Keane organizes traumatic experiences by occurrence and subjective impact. The Life Experiences Survey by Sarason, Johnson, and Siegel, plus Norbeck’s work on questionnaires about life events, offers related context for rating life changes and perceived impact. This online life event questionnaire presents the Foa-Keane framework in a self-report format.

The digital questionnaire is not accompanied by independent norms or a standardization sample. Memory, current circumstances, and honest self-report can shape responses, so the result cannot by itself determine a clinical condition.

Author: Edna B. Foa, Terence M. Keane

Literature:

Tarabrina, N. V. (2007). Practical Guide to the Psychology of Posttraumatic Stress. Part 2: Assessment Forms. Moscow: Kogito-Center. ISBN 978-5-89353-209-8.
Tarabrina, N. V., Agarkov, V. A., Bykhovets, Y. V., Kalmykova, E. S., Makarchuk, A. V., Padun, M. A., Udachina, E. G., Khimchyan, Z. G., Shatalova, N. E., & Shchepina, A. I. (2007). Practical Guide to the Psychology of Posttraumatic Stress. Part 1: Theory and Methods. Moscow: Kogito-Center. ISBN 978-5-89353-208-1.
Sarason, I. G., Johnson, J. H., & Siegel, J. M. (1978). Assessing the impact of life changes: Development of the Life Experiences Survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46(5), 932-946. 10.1037/0022-006X.46.5.932.
Norbeck, J. S. (1984). Modification of life event questionnaires for use with female respondents. Research in Nursing & Health, 7(1), 61-71. 10.1002/nur.4770070110.

Updated: 2025-10-02