Table 2.

Trauma Items (n = 7) Matched Across the Trauma Questionnaire (Biological Mother) and the Negative Life Events Scale (Adoptive Mother)

Trauma Questionnaire items (biological mother)	Negative Life Events Scale items (adoptive mother)
Have you ever had a life-threatening illness?	Have a serious illness or injury?
Were you ever in a life-threatening accident?	Have an automobile accident in which someone was injured?
Did anyone ever take something from you by force or threat of force, such as in a robbery, mugging, or holdup?	Get robbed?
Did anyone ever beat you up or attack you as an adult?	Get beaten up, physically attacked, or sexually assaulted?
Did you ever suffer injury or property damage because of fire, severe weather, or a natural or manmade disaster?	Suffer injury or property damage from a fire, severe weather, or other disaster?
Did a close friend or family member ever die because of an accident, homicide, or suicide?	Have a close friend who died?
Did you ever have some other extremely frightening, terrifying, or shocking experience that I haven’t mentioned?	Have some other terrifying or shocking experience?

Note. For the Trauma Questionnaire, items were assessed for the biological mother’s lifetime and at one time point in the study in spring 2009, when adopted children were approximately age 5 years (M = 4.67; SD = 0.86; range = 2.82–7.25). For the Negative Life Events Scale, items were assessed for the past year and at five time points in the study at adopted child ages 9 months, 27 months, 4.5 years, 6 years, and 7 years.