Italian translation and cross-cultural comparison with the Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS)

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample demographics.

	Italian (N = 79)	Canadian (N = 288)
Sex (%)
Female	69 (87.3)	182 (63.2)
Age – M (SD)	22.67 (1.42)	18.39 (1.32)
Marital status (%)
Engaged	49 (62)	17 (5.9)
Single	26 (32.9)	262 (91)
Living together	3 (3.8)	3 (.09)
Married	1 (1.3)	6 (2)
Declined to answer	-
Education (%)
Undergraduate	8 (10.1)	165 (57.4)
Bachelor’s degree	71 (89.9)
Work (%)
Unemployed	72 (91.1)	149 (51.7)
Part-time/full-time job	7 (8.9)	139 (48.4)

Table 2. Descriptive statistics and paired comparisons between Italian CARTS subscales ratings for Self, Mother and Father.

	Not Applicable^1			Self^2			Mother^3			Father^4			Correlations
CARTS subscales	M	SD	α	M	SD	α	M	SD	α	M	SD	Α	Ʈ ^2–3	Ʈ ^2–4	Ʈ ^3–4
Positive	.11	.35	.14	1.19	2.63	.92	9.4	3.75	.90	8.47	4.22	.91	.08	.20	.45**
Secure	.90	.82	.27				5.77	2.54	.85	3.89	3.19	.92			.29**
Negative Affect	1.36	.82	.42	.24	.62	.65	.36	.72	.59	.18	.49	.44	.15	.20	.13
Positive Affect	.64	.48		.24	.43			.50		.54	.50		.33**	.24	.46**
Negative Feelings From	3.43	1.72	.68				.55	1.22	.79	.34	1.01	.82			.29*
Emotional Abuse to Self	1.74	.57	.60				.11	.42	.85	.06	.29	.66			.37**
Emotional Abuse to Others	1.45	.66	.39	.00	.00		.08	.36	.80	.04	.26	.80			−.02
Negative Beliefs From	4.23	1.32	.79				.31	.86	.75	.23	.77	.78			.50**
Negative Beliefs To	4.4	1.22	.80				.12	.64	.89	.12	.53	.74			.70**
Physical Abuse to Self	1.92	.28	−.05				.05	.23	−.04	.06	.23	−.06			.38**
Physical Abuse to Others	1.92	.28	−.05	.14	.12		.04	.20	.00	.04	.21	−.04			−.03
Bad Things	2.89	.46	.74				.03	.16	.00	.03	.17	.00			.70**
Sexual Abuse	4.85	.83	.81				.01	.12		.01	.12	.00			1**

Notes: * p < .05; **p < .01, two-tailed

Table 3. Multiple regression analyses of Italian CARTS convergent validity with Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

	Step 1	Step 2	Step 2	Step 2	Step 2
	Non-Applicable ratings	Mother & Father ratings	Non-Applicable ratings	Mother ratings	Father ratings
Dependent measure	R^2	ΔR^2	b(SE)	b(SE)	b(SE)
CTQ-EA	.38**	.08**	−2.06 (.65)**	2.01 (.76)**	2.01 (1.03)
CTQ-PA	.41**	.207**	−2.01 (.63)**	−.21 (.73)	4.14 (.70)**
CTQ-SA	.44**	.01	−1.28 (.18) **	−1.30 (.18)**	−1.30 (1.26)
CTQ-NE	.04	.39**	Positive: -.10 (1.12)	Positive: -.69 (.22)**	Positive: .16 (.19)
			Secure: .23 (.57)**	Secure: .08 (.25)	Secure: -.43 (.21)*

Notes: Step-1 predictors were CARTS Non-Applicability ratings, and Step-2 predictors were CARTS Mother and Father ratings. Dependent variables were CTQ-EA, CTQ-PA, CTQ-SA and CTQ-EN, CARTS subscale scores for Emotionally Abusive to Self, Physically Abusive to Self, Sexually Abusive to Self, and Positive and Secure were used, respectively. CTQ = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire- Short Form (Bernstein et al., 2003); EA = Emotional Abuse; PA = Physical Abuse; SA = Sexual Abuse; EN = Emotional Neglect. *p < 0.05, two-tailed, **p < 0.01, two-tailed.

Table 4. Multiple regression analyses of Italian CARTS convergent validity with Parental Bonding Instrument.

	Step 1	Step 2	Step 2	Step 2	Step 2	Step 2
	Not- Applicable ratings	Mother & Father ratings	Non-Applicable Positive	Non-Applicable Secure	Parent (M/F) Positive	Parent (M/F) Secure
Dependent measure	R^2	ΔR^2	b (SE)	b (SE)	b (SE)	b (SE)
PBI-CARE (M)	.07	.46**	−.24 (1.34)	−.34 (.65)*	.59 (.20)**	.86 (.28)**
PBI-CARE (P)	.05	.48**	3.01 (1.74)	−.48 (.82)	.89 (.23)**	.44 (.32)
PBI-OVER (M)	.07	.03	−.99 (4.18)	1.91 (2.31)	.26 (.74)	−.76 (1.11)
PBI-OVER (P)	.03	.05	−.87 (2.13)	1.94 (1.01)	−.32 (.28)	.68 (.39)

Notes: Predictors were CARTS Positive and Secure subscale scores. Step-2 predictors of PBI-M were CARTS Mother ratings, whereas Step-2 predictors of PBI-F were CARTS Father ratings. PBI = Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; Parker et al., 1979); PBI-CARE(M/F) = PBI-Care (Mother/Father); PBI-OVER (M/F) = PBI-Overprotection (Mother/Father). **p < 0.01, two-tailed

Table 5. Bivariate correlations between Italian CARTS subscales for Mother and Father ratings, and PCL-5, SCL-90-R, ECR-R Anxiety and Avoidance scores.

	Mother ratings		Father ratings
CARTS subscales	PCL-5	SCL-90-R	PCL-5	SCL-90-R
Positive	−.20	−.24**	−.13	−.17
Secure	−.18	−.25**	−.06	−.06
Negative Affect	−.01	−.07	.36**	.35**
Positive Affect	−.17	−.16	.21	−.28*
Negative Feelings From	.05	.02	.31**	.25*
Emotional Abuse Self	.02	−.07	.26*	.21
Emotional Abuse Other	.08	.05	.15	.07
Negative Beliefs From	.09	.06	.32**	.18
Negative Beliefs To	.13	.14	.31*	.31*
Physical Abuse Self	−.07	−.04	.16	.12
Physical Abuse Other	.20	.27*	.11	.09
Bad Things	.12	.17	.09	.22
Sexual Abuse	.19	.12	.20	.12
CARTS subscales	ECR-R Avoidance	ECR-Anxiety	ECR-R Avoidance	ECR-Anxiety
Positive	−.09	−.16	−.04	−.13
Secure	−.06	−.27**	−.07	−.08
Negative Affect	.06	.02	.14	.17
Positive Affect	−.19	−.29*	−.14	−.18
Negative Feelings From	−.02	.09	.06	.10
Emotional Abuse Self	−.13	−.04	.16	.17
Emotional Abuse Other	−.04	−.01	.07	.12
Negative Beliefs From	−.06	.01	.13	.22
Negative Beliefs To	−.06	−.03	.20	.22
Physical Abuse Self	−.03	.11	.04	.17
Physical Abuse Other	.13	.27*	.06	.20
Bad Things	.03	.03	−.04	.05
Sexual Abuse	.14	.08	.14	.08

Notes: PCL-5 = PTSD Checklist 5, SCL-90-R = Symptom Checklist 90 Revised; ECR-R = Experience in Close Relationship-Revised;* p < .05, ** p < .01

Table 6. Multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) between Italian and Canadian sample referring to Box, Self, Mother and Father ratings.

	Italian (1)	Canadian (2)	Anova	Findings
CARTS Subscales	M (SD)	M (SD)	F	adjusted p-value^a
BOX				P
Positive	.14 (.40)	.28 (.01)	1.35	.29
Secure	.95 (.74)	2.36 (2.03)	27.03**	.00
Negative Affect	1.45 (.75)	1.19 (.94)	3.72	.11
Positive Affect	.71 (.46)	.63 (.48)	1.23	.29
Negative Feelings From	3.43 (1.70)	1.89 (1.32)	53.54**	.00
Emotional Abuse Self	1.84 (.41)	1.23 (.81)	30.88**	.00
Emotional Abuse Other	1.51 (.60)	1.37 (.79)	1.78	.23
Negative Beliefs From	4.28 (1.23)	3.92 (1.55)	2.46	.17
Negative Beliefs To	5.57 (.86)	4.19 (1.50)	3.29	.11
Physical Abuse Self	1.94 (.22)	1.53 (.69)	21.06**	.00
Physical Abuse Other	1.97 (.18)	1.57 (.69)	18.65**	.00
Bad Things	2.88 (.50)	2.82 (.62)	.43	.52
Sexual Abuse	4.84 (.83)	5.73 (1.12)	31.88**	.00
SELF
Positive	1.10 (2.60)	2.12 (3.33)	4.58	.15
Secure	-	-	-	-
Negative Affect	.19 (.54)	.17 (.47)	.09	.78
Positive Affect	.21 (.41)	.33 (.47)	3.31	.17
Negative Feelings From	-	-	-	-
Emotional Abuse Self	-	-	-	-
Emotional Abuse Other	00 (.00)	0.5 (.28)	1.89	.28
Negative Beliefs From	-	-	-	-
Negative Beliefs To	-	-	-	-
Physical Abuse Self	-	-	-	-
Physical Abuse Other	.00 (.00)	.03 (.22)	1.08	.38
Bad Things	-	-	-	-
Sexual Abuse	-	-	-	-
MOTHER
Positive	10.02 (3.11)	11.3 (2.60)	9.93**	.01
Secure	3.67 (3.14)	7.21 (2.77)	9.73**	.01
Negative Affect	.29 (.62)	.42 (.76)	1.32	.33
Positive Affect	.53 (.50)	.69 (.46)	4.76	.08
Negative Feelings From	.40 (.97)	.63 (1.16)	1.99	.32
Emotional Abuse Self	.07 (.32)	.16 (.46)	1.88	.32
Emotional Abuse Other	.02 (.13)	.16 (.50)	4.83	.08
Negative Beliefs From	.24 (.68)	.18 (.68)	.32	.67
Negative Beliefs To	.03 (.15)	.26 (.69)	1.50	.32
Physical Abuse Self	.05 (.22)	.18 (.44)	4.88	.08
Physical Abuse Other	.03 (.18)	.09 (.34)	1.53	.32
Bad Things	.02 (.13)	.04 (.28)	.25	.67
Sexual Abuse	.02 (.13)	.04 (.28)	.10	.75
FATHER
Positive	8.60 (4.00)	10.04 (3.10)	12.61**	.00
Secure	3.67 (3.14)	5.70 (3.10)	19.10**	.00
Negative Affect	.12 (.38)	.42 (.79)	7.95*	.03
Positive Affect	.57 (50)	.69 (.46)	2.88	.13
Negative Feelings From	.33 (.93)	.76 (1.27)	5.71*	.05
Emotional Abuse Self	.05 (.29)	.28 (.93)	3.29	.11
Emotional Abuse Other	.02 (.13)	.22 (.81)	3.59	.11
Negative Beliefs From	.19 (.66)	.19 (.52)	.00	.99
Negative Beliefs To	.10 (.55)	.20 (.55)	1.48	.30
Physical Abuse Self	.02 (.13)	.20 (.47)	8.79**	.00
Physical Abuse Other	.00 (.00)	.11 (.37)	4.84	.07
Bad Things	.02 (.13)	.05 (.35)	.53	.56
Sexual Abuse	.02 (.13)	.06 (.56)	.35	.60

Notes: *p < .05; **p < .01; ^ap values adjusted with FDR (False Discovery Rate; Benjamini & Hochberg, 1995).

Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., ... Zule, W. ;(2003). Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse and Neglect, 27(2), 169–190.

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