Validation of the IES as a measure of the long-term impact of war trauma

This study amed to validate the Impact of Event Scale (IES) using a sample of Second World War and Korean War veterans (N=281), all of whom had experienced combat 40-50 years previously. Principal component analysis replicated the two-factor (intrusion and avoidance) structure demonstrated by previous validation studies. Both factors had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha for intrusion=.86, avoidance=.73). The correlation between the subscales was .64. The overall scale successfully predicted levels of psychological distress. These results provide further evidence that the IES is a useful instrument for assessing the impact of trauma across a range of populations.