Psychometric evaluation of the PCL-5: assessing validity, diagnostic utility, and bifactor structures.

The changes DSM-5 brought to the diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulted in revising the most widely used instrument in assessing PTSD, namely the Posttraumatic Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). This study examined the psychometric properties of the Romanian version of the PCL-5, tested its diagnostic utility against the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5), and investigated the latent structure of PTSD symptoms through correlated symptom models and bifactor modelling. A total sample of 727 participants was used to test the psychometric properties and underlying structure of the PCL-5 and 101 individuals underwent clinical interviews using SCID-5.