Psychometric properties of the International Trauma Questionnaire–Child and Adolescent Version (ITQ-CA) among Portuguese adolescents from the community.

OBJECTIVE: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD. Although extensively validated in adults across diverse contexts, evidence for the child and adolescent version (ITQ-CA) is still limited. Few studies have examined its latent structure or validity in youth, and none have validated it in Portuguese adolescents. Moreover, measurement invariance across sex has not yet been established in this age group, despite documented sex differences in trauma exposure and symptom expression. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the ITQ-CA in Portuguese adolescents by testing factorial structure, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and measurement invariance across sex. METHOD: A school-based sample of 530 adolescents (11-16 years) completed the ITQ-CA and measures of trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and resilience. Confirmatory factor analyses compared four latent structures and tested measurement invariance across sex (configural, metric, scalar). Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed using average variance extracted and composite reliability and Pearson correlations. RESULTS: The correlated six-factor model showed the best fit. Full configural, metric, and scalar invariance supported cross-sex comparability. Convergent validity was adequate, and discriminant validity was supported by the Fornell-Larcker criterion and external patterns, with disturbances in self-organization factors showing stronger associations with dysregulation and resilience than PTSD factors. Internal consistency was acceptable to good. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD and disturbances in self-organization in Portuguese adolescents, with practical utility for research and rapid screening in schools and community services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).