The Chinese version of the Maltreatment and Abuse Chronology of Exposure (MACE) scale: Psychometric properties in a sample of young adults

There are several effective self-report instruments used by Chinese researchers to retrospectively assess exposure to childhood maltreatment. However, these measures do not assess the timing of exposure, restricting efforts to identify periods of development when childhood maltreatment maximally increases vulnerability to psychopathology and health outcomes. In the current study we created a Chinese version of the Maltreatment and Abuse Chronology of Exposure (MACE) scale, which assesses multiplicity (number of types of maltreatment experienced) and severity of maltreatment as well as when it occurred during childhood and adolescence. Rasch modeling was used for scale development in a sample of 812 undergraduate students. Item reduction analysis of the original 75 items produced a 58-item Chinese version with ten subdimensions. The new scale showed good three-week test-retest reliability, and good convergent validity with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the revised Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACEQ-R). Variance decomposition analyses found that compared to the CTQ and ACE, the MACE Severity and Multiplicity scores explained higher variance in self-reported depression and anxiety symptom ratings on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). The results of the present study confirmed that the Chinese version of the MACE has sound psychometric properties in the Chinese cultural context. This new instrument will be a valuable tool for Chinese researchers, psychiatrists and psychologists to ascertain the type and timing of exposure to maltreatment.