Research studies suggest racial/ethnic differences in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis and symptom severity. Few studies to date, however, have examined the extent to which these findings are due to differences in measurement properties of existing PTSD scales. This study examined measurement equivalence across race/ethnicity in the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) by testing for differential item functioning (DIF) in the item response theory (IRT) framework. Participants were 506 trauma-exposed women (M = 39.41 years, SD = 8.94) who participated in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network Women and Trauma Study. PTSD severity score estimates were improved upon as part of IRT estimation incorporating symptom "weights" (i.e., factor loadings) and group-specific DIF. Six symptoms from the CAPS showed DIF, with the majority of differences in measurement driven by White/African American and White/Latina differences, particularly for (a) avoidance of thoughts and (b) a sense of foreshortened future. Despite both racial/ethnic minority groups being slightly (not significantly) more likely to receive a PTSD diagnosis, African Americans (p = .014; Cohen's d = -.22) and Latinas (p < .001; d = -.73) had significantly lower PTSD severity scores than Whites as estimated under IRT with group-specific DIF. Examination of PTSD severity scores based on symptom counts revealed these differences were either dampened (White/Latina difference d = -.39) or entirely negated (White/African American difference d = -.08). The findings suggest the importance of considering differences in symptom relevance across race/ethnicity and their impact on capturing symptom severity parallel to diagnostic criteria. Implications for clinical practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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种族/民族对临床医生管理的 PTSD 量表的测量非等效性：对量化创伤后应激障碍严重程度的影响。

研究表明，创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 诊断和症状严重程度存在种族/民族差异。然而，迄今为止，很少有研究检查这些发现在多大程度上是由于现有 PTSD 量表的测量特性的差异。本研究通过测试项目反应理论 (IRT) 框架中的差异项目功能 (DIF)，检验了临床医生管理的 PTSD 量表 (CAPS) 中跨种族/民族的测量等效性。参与者是参与国家药物滥用治疗临床试验网络妇女和创伤研究的 506 名遭受创伤的女性（M = 39.41 岁，SD = 8.94）。PTSD 严重性评分估计值作为 IRT 估计值的一部分得到改进，包括症状“权重”（即因素负荷）和特定组的 DIF。CAPS 的六个症状显示出 DIF，其中大部分差异是由白人/非洲裔美国人和白人/拉丁裔差异驱动的，特别是 (a) 回避想法和 (b) 对未来缩短的感觉。尽管种族/少数族裔群体被诊断为 PTSD 的可能性略高（不显着），但非裔美国人（p = .014；Cohen 的 d = -.22）和拉丁裔（p < .001；d = -.73）根据 IRT 和组特定 DIF 估计，PTSD 严重程度评分显着低于白人。根据症状计数对 PTSD 严重程度评分的检查显示，这些差异要么被抑制（白人/拉丁裔差异 d = -.39），要么完全被否定（白人/非裔美国人差异 d = -.08）。研究结果表明，考虑不同种族/民族症状相关性的差异及其对与诊断标准平行的症状严重程度的影响的重要性。讨论了对临床实践的影响。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2020 APA，保留所有权利）。