The Comprehensive Adversity Measure (CAM): A Measure of Early Adversity and its Severity

Early adversity (EA) scales often display insufficient content coverage and typically assess the presence of adversity, but not its severity. To address some of these limitations, we developed the 13-item Youth and Childhood Adversity Scale. We subsequently revised and expanded the scale regarding content coverage and item wording, resulting in a 22-item version, which we here validate in one cross-sectional (N = 1498; 43.9% females; 24.42 years old, SD = 3.72, range 18-30 years) and in one longitudinal study (N = 1084; 39.6% females; 32 years old, SD = 10.49, range 18-75 years). To reflect the nature of the revised measure more accurately, it was named the Comprehensive Adversity Measure (CAM). Exploratory factor analysis suggested a one-factor model for both the presence/absence and the severity facet, which both displayed good model fit in subsequent confirmatory factor analyses. Factor models demonstrated at least scalar measurement invariance across gender and country (US/UK). Validity of the CAM was supported by significant correlations with psychological distress, depression, anxiety, substance use, posttraumatic stress symptoms, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, suicide attempts, rumination, social comparison, self-esteem, and quality of life – concurrently and prospectively. Overall, the CAM offers a psychometrically-sound, content-wise comprehensive, and free to use assessment of EA.