Validation of the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form and Trauma Prevalence in Colombia

Objective: Early traumatic experiences are related to profound and long-lasting negative effects on mental and physical health. Colombia has been involved in a war for the last six decades. Thus, the main objective was to adapt and validate the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form in Colombia, as well as assess trauma prevalence in this country. Method: For this purpose, a total of 2,080 Colombians participated in this study (57.3% women and 42.4% men). Age ranged from 18 to 77 years old. They answered the 27-item version of the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form and a sociodemographic evaluation tool. Web-based sampling was carried out between March 16 and March 30, 2020. Results: Original four factor structure was successfully explored and confirmed here. Reliability indexes were good with alphas ranging from.69 to.93. Items properties were also adequate. Most of the assessed sample suffered trauma in their early stages (99.8%). Gender differences were analyzed observing significant differences. As expected, sexual abuse is more prevalent in women. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, the Colombian population has suffered the highest prevalence of early trauma experiences so far when compared to other countries. Emotional and social implications are discussed.