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Perceived Stress Scale

Instructions: The questions in this scale ask you about your feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, please indicate with a check how often you felt or thought a certain way.

1. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?

2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?

|_| 0 = never

|_| 1 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 3 = fairly often

|_| 4 = very often

3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and “stressed”?

|_| 0 = never

|_| 1 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 3 = fairly often

|_| 4 = very often

4. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?

|_| 4 = never

|_| 3 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 1 = fairly often

|_| 0 = very often

5. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?

|_| 4 = never

|_| 3 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 1 = fairly often

|_| 0 = very often

6. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?

|_| 0 = never

|_| 1 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 3 = fairly often

|_| 4 = very often

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7. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life?

|_| 4 = never

|_| 3 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 1 = fairly often

|_| 0 = very often

8. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?

|_| 4 = never

|_| 3 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 1 = fairly often

|_| 0 = very often

9. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that were outside of your control?

|_| 0 = never

|_| 1 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 3 = fairly often

|_| 4 = very often

10. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?

|_| 0 = never

|_| 1 = almost never

|_| 2 = sometimes

|_| 3 = fairly often

|_| 4 = very often

· The higher your score, the greater your perceived stress. If your PSS score is 20 or greater, you should take additional steps to manage your stress.

This scale can be found in the following articles:

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385–396.

Cohen, S., & Williamson, G. (1988). Perceived stress in a probability sample of the United States. In S. Spacapam & S. Oskamp (Eds.), The social psychology of health: Claremont Symposium on applied social psychology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education Inc. 1 of 2 Self-Assessment Worksheet