Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF)

What Is the CTQ-SF?

The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) is a 25-item screening tool that asks about five types of childhood abuse and neglect. It was developed by Bernstein et al. (2003) as a shorter version of the original 70-item CTQ.

It covers:

• Emotional Abuse — verbal attacks on your worth or well-being
• Physical Abuse — physical attacks that caused or could cause harm
• Sexual Abuse — unwanted sexual contact before age 18
• Emotional Neglect — caregivers not meeting your emotional needs
• Physical Neglect — caregivers not meeting your basic needs (food, shelter, safety, medical care)

Each item uses a 5-point scale (1 = Never True, 5 = Very Often True). Seven items are reverse-scored. Scores range from 25 to 125, with higher scores indicating more trauma.

How to interpret your results

The total score gives a general sense of childhood trauma burden. But this test really shines at the subscale level — each of the five trauma types is scored separately (range 5-25 per subscale). Your report will show which areas may be elevated.

The CTQ-SF also includes a 3-item Minimization/Denial validity scale (not included in the online version) to detect underreporting.

What CTQ-SF scores mean

Total Score	Severity	What it suggests
:-----------:	:--------:	:-----------------
25-37	Low	Few reported traumatic experiences
38-50	Moderate	Some areas may be elevated
51-75	Moderately Severe	Multiple areas likely above threshold
76-125	Severe	Clinically significant in several areas

Clinical use

The CTQ-SF is a widely used childhood trauma screening tool. It's validated across clinical, community, and research settings. A 2014 study by Spinhoven et al. confirmed the five-factor structure holds across different emotional disorder populations.

Important: This is a screening tool, not a diagnostic instrument. Results can be affected by current mood state and recall bias. A clinical interview is needed for any diagnosis.

Versions and adaptations

The original 70-item CTQ was published in 1994. The 25-item short form came out in 2003. A Chinese version was validated by Zhang Min (2011) on a sample of 1,892 middle school students in Hubei province. Notably, the Chinese version found a four-factor structure (emotional and physical abuse merged into one factor) rather than the original five, which may reflect cultural differences in how abuse is experienced.

Limitations

• The Physical Neglect subscale has consistently lower reliability (α ≈ 0.66) across studies
• The Chinese version's Physical Neglect subscale has very low reliability (α = 0.23)
• Does not capture other types of childhood adversity (witnessing domestic violence, community violence, etc.)
• Cultural definitions of abuse and neglect vary