A Global Measure of Perceived Stress

TLDR

This paper presents evidence from three samples that the 14‑item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) reliably and validly measures how people appraise life situations as stressful, and suggests its use for studying the role of nonspecific stress in disease etiology, behavioral disorders, and as an outcome measure. The study assessed the PSS across three samples—two college student groups and a community smoking‑cessation cohort—to evaluate its reliability and validity. The PSS demonstrated adequate reliability and, as predicted, correlated with life‑event scores, depressive and physical symptoms, health‑service use, social anxiety, and smoking‑reduction maintenance, outperforming life‑event scores and a depressive symptom scale as a predictor, and a four‑item version proved reliable for telephone interviews.

Abstract

This paper presents evidence from three samples, two of college students and one of participants in a community smoking-cessation program, for the reliability and validity of a 14-item instrument, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), designed to measure the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. The PSS showed adequate reliability and, as predicted, was correlated with life-event scores, depressive and physical symptomatology, utilization of health services, social anxiety, and smoking-reduction maintenance. In all comparisons, the PSS was a better predictor of the outcome in question than were life-event scores. When compared to a depressive symptomatology scale, the PSS was found to measure a different and independently predictive construct. Additional data indicate adequate reliability and validity of a four-item version of the PSS for telephone interviews. The PSS is suggested for examining the role of nonspecific appraised stress in the etiology of disease and behavioral disorders and as an outcome measure of experienced levels of stress.