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?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often
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?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often
5. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=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
7. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often
8. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=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 wer piling up so high that you could not overcome them?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.
Perceived Stress Scale Scoring
Scoring:
PSS-10 scores are obtained by reversing the scores on the four positive items, e.g., 0=4, 1=3, 2=2, etc. and then summing across all 10 items. Items 4, 5, 7, and 8 are the positively stated items.
Reversed Items: 4, 5, 7, 8
Total Perceived Stress: Sum Items: 1, 2, 3, 4R, 5R, 6. 7R, 8R, 9, 10
Interpretation:
Scores around 13 are considered average. High stress groups usually have a stress score of around 20 points. Scores of 20 or higher are considered high stress, and individuals in this range might consider learning new stress reduction techniques as well as increasing exercise to at least three times a week. High psychological stress is associated with high blood pressure, higher BMI, higher cortisol levels, suppressed immune function, decreased sleep, and increased alcohol consumption. These are all important risk factors for cardiovascular or other illness.
The PSS was designed for use with community samples with at least a junior high school education. The items are easy to understand and the response alternatives are simple to grasp. Moreover, as noted above, the questions are quite general in nature and hence relatively free of content specific to any sub population group. The data reported in the article are from somewhat restricted samples, in that they are younger, more educated and contain fewer minority members than the general population.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.
Psychometrics:
Reliability: alpha = .78
Vali Psychometrics:
Reliability: alpha = .78
Validity: Correlates in a predicted way with other measure of stress
(i.e. Job Responsibilities Scale, life events scales).
Conditions of Scale Use
Permission for use of the scale is not necessary when use is for academic research or educational purposes.
LM315600M
perceived_stress_scale_06212017.docx
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