This article describes the development and validation of a brief screen for developmental trauma appraisals. The 7-item screen was administered to a non-clinical sample of 477 South African adolescents who had experienced interpersonal violence during childhood. In all, 216 participants (45%) met the study criteria for a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder and 41 (9%) met the study criteria for a diagnosis of complex posttraumatic stress disorder. Exploratory factor analysis yielded one factor which had a high level of internal consistency (α = .91) and acceptable levels of construct and concurrent validity for both posttraumatic stress disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder outcomes. Mediation analyses indicated that the appraisal screen measures a construct which effectively mediates the relationship between traumatic exposure and the severity of posttraumatic outcomes across a broad range of maltreatment types.