Dissociation Among Swedish Adolescents and the Connection to Trauma

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of Adolescent Dissociative Experience Scale (A-DES), dissociative symptoms among Swedish adolescents, and dissociative symptoms connected to trauma and sexual and physical abuse. A normative group of 400 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years and a clinical group of 20 adolescents with known experienced trauma were given A-DES. A test-retest procedure was conducted with 90 subjects from the normative group. The results showed good reliability, internal consistency and test-retest. Factor analysis in the normative sample (N = 400) resulted in a one factor solution. Correlation between A-DES and other measures of dissociation was high (r = .86). Significant differences for the total sum of A-DES were found in the normative group between adolescents with and without self-reported trauma and between the normative group and the clinical group with known experienced trauma. The Swedish version of A-DES was shown to be a screening instrument with satisfactory psychometric qualities and the capability of capturing dissociative symptoms in adolescents with self-reported trauma as well as clinical cases with identified trauma.