ABSTRACT Objectives Adjustment disorder (AjD) is a highly prevalent diagnosis in the U.S. military. Psychometric evaluation of the AjD assessment tool, the Adjustment Disorder New Module‐Military (ADNM‐20‐MIL), improves the accuracy of AjD assessment for military service members. Methods This study investigated the internal reliability, convergent, and divergent validity of the ADNM‐20‐MIL as well as its factor structure. U.S. active duty service members ( N = 149) with and without a recent AjD diagnosis completed the ADNM‐20‐MIL, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21 (DASS‐21), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM‐5 (PCL‐5), and General Well‐Being Schedule (GWB). Results ADNM‐20‐MIL scores were significantly worse in the AjD‐positive group; there were no AjD severity differences by sex, military rank, or past recent deployment status. The ADNM‐20‐MIL demonstrated robust internal reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.96, 95% CI 0.95–0.97). It had strong positive associations with with the PCL‐5 (rs (145) = 0.81, p < 0.001) and the DASS‐21 (rs (146) = 0.83, p < 0.001), indicating convergent validity; and moderately negative associations with the GWB subdomains that reflect positive health (rs ranging from −0.5 to −0.63), p < 0.001, indicating divergent validity. Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated a unidimensional structure for AjD symptoms. Conclusions Longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the ADNM‐20‐MIL in assessing the trajectory of AjD in the military.
Bajjani‐Gebara et al. (Mon,) studied this question.