Psychometric Properties of Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory in a Sample of Military Active Duty Service Members

• Activity Number: 356
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Mental Health Statistics Section
• Author(s): Weimin Zhang*
• Companies: Samueli Institute
• Keywords: item response theory ; Rasch model ; latent class analysis ; factor analysis ; Post-traumatic Growth ; Post-traumatic Growth Inventory

Abstract

The objective of the study is to assess the psychometric properties of the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) in a sample of military active duty service members in treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The 21-item scale was administered to N = 593 active duty service members. In this set of analyses we try to explore relevant questions such as: what is the factor structure of PTGI at a high trauma exposure military sample? Can we combine some items into a general factor? Whether it is legitimate to collapse single item scores into a sum score when summary Post-traumatic Growth using PTGI through item response theory models? Whether the scale can demonstrate acceptable approximation to item response theory Rasch model requirements? Does the scale discriminate the sample into enough levels of Post-traumatic Growth to be meaningful? Can items in the PTGI scale be used to find distinct types of Post-traumatic Growth from item responses? If yes, what are the characteristics of those items? Data were explored and analyzed using structural equation modeling latent class analysis methods, factor analysis, and item response theory Rasch model.