Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF)
25-item retrospective screening for childhood abuse and neglect
Were there things in your childhood that still feel hard to talk about? The CTQ-SF screens for five types of childhood trauma.
What Is the CTQ-SF?
The CTQ-SF looks back at five types of childhood experiences: emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect. Bernstein et al. (2003) created this 25-item version from the longer 70-item CTQ, keeping the same five subscales while making it faster to complete.
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)
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 gets its own score, shown as an average from 1 to 5. 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 | Several areas likely elevated |
| 76-125 | Severe | Clinically significant in several areas |
Clinical use
In practice it is the first pass. The five subscale scores flag which areas an interview should go into, and the cutoff above tells you whether the total is in territory worth following up.
Spinhoven et al. (2014) 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 (alpha ~ 0.66) across studies
- The Chinese version's Physical Neglect subscale has very low reliability (alpha = 0.23)
- Does not capture other types of childhood adversity (witnessing domestic violence, community violence, etc.)
- Cultural definitions of abuse and neglect vary
Result Interpretation
After completing the 25 questions, you'll receive an immediate, detailed report with:
- Your score — calculated automatically based on your responses
- Score interpretation — what your score means in practical terms
- Context — how your results compare to general population norms where available
All results are displayed on screen. No account or login needed.