Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ASCO Annual Meeting 2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Keep up to date with all the top stories and latest evidence with our hub page, including official congress videos and expert takeaways.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2020

Open Access 01-12-2020 | Research article

Psychometric properties of the perceived stress scale in a community sample of Chinese

Authors: Feifei Huang, Huijun Wang, Zhihong Wang, Jiguo Zhang, Wenwen Du, Chang Su, Xiaofang Jia, Yifei Ouyang, Yun Wang, Li Li, Hongru Jiang, Bing Zhang

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2020

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a globally used and self-report scale measuring perceived stress. Three versions of PSS (PSS-14, PSS-10 and PSS-4) are available which comprise 14, 10 and 4 items respectively. However, the Chinese version of the PSS has not yet been validated in a large community-based general population. The aims of this study were to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese PSS in a large community-based general population and to compare the appropriateness of the three versions of PSS.

Methods

A total of 9507 adults with at least a junior high school education and completed PSS-14 from the China Health and Nutrition Survey were involved in this study. The internal consistency reliability of PSS was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis was employed to test the construct validity. Modification index was used for model extension and the critical ratio was used for model restriction.

Results

The internal consistency coefficients were satisfactory for PSS-14 and PSS-10, but not for PSS-4. The corresponding Cronbach’s alpha were 0.830, 0.754 and 0.473 respectively. A 2-factor structure was confirmed for the PSS-14 and PSS-10, and all items’ standardized factor loadings exceeded 0.4 for either negative or positive factors. Given that item 12 loaded on both negative and positive factors for PSS-14 and the goodness of fit for PSS-14 was not acceptable, PSS-13 (PSS-14 excluding item 12) was studied. The construct validities of PSS-13 and PSS-10 were satisfactory, but the goodness of fit for PSS-10 were better than that for PSS-13.

Conclusions

PSS-13 (PSS-14 excluding item 12) and PSS-10 have satisfactory psychometric properties. PSS-10 are more applicable to measure the perceived stress than PSS-13 in a large community-based general population in China.
Literature
1.
Lee EH. Review of the psychometric evidence of the perceived stress scale. Asian Nurs Res (Korean Soc Nurs Sci). 2012;6(4):121–7.
2.
Ng DM, Jeffery RW. Relationships between perceived stress and health behaviors in a sample of working adults. Health Psychol. 2003;22(6):638–42.CrossRef
3.
Barrington WE, Ceballos RM, Bishop SK, McGregor BA, Beresford SAA. Perceived stress, behavior, and body mass index among adults participating in a worksite obesity prevention program, Seattle, 2005-2007. Prev Chronic Dis. 2012;9:E152.CrossRef
4.
Laugero KD, Falcon LM, Tucker KL. Relationship between perceived stress and dietary and activity patterns in older adults participating in the Boston Puerto Rican health study. APPETITE. 2011;56(1):194–204.CrossRef
5.
Diggins A, Woods-Giscombe C, Waters S. The association of perceived stress, contextualized stress, and emotional eating with body mass index in college-aged black women. Eat Behav. 2015;19:188–92.CrossRef
6.
van Jaarsveld CH, Fidler JA, Steptoe A, Boniface D, Wardle J. Perceived stress and weight gain in adolescence: a longitudinal analysis. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009;17(12):2155–61.CrossRef
7.
Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav. 1983;24(4):385–96.CrossRef
8.
Cohen S, Williamson G. Perceived stress in a probability sample of the United States. In: Spacapan S, Oskamp S, editors. The social psychology of health: Claremont symposium on applied social psychology. Newbury Park: Sage; 1988. p. 31–67.
9.
Eklund M, Bäckström M, Tuvesson H. Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Swedish version of the perceived stress scale. Nord J Psychiat. 2013;68(7):494–9.CrossRef
10.
Lesage FX, Berjot S, Deschamps F. Psychometric properties of the French versions of the perceived stress scale. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2012;25(2):178–84.CrossRef
11.
Katsarou A, Panagiotakos D, Zafeiropoulou A, Vryonis M, Skoularigis I, Tryposkiadis F, Papageorgiou C. Validation of a Greek version of PSS-14; a global measure of perceived stress. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2012;20(2):104–9.CrossRef
12.
González-Ramírez MT, Rodríguez-Ayán MN, Hernández RL. The perceived stress scale (PSS): normative data and factor structure for a large-scale sample in Mexico. Spanish J Psychol. 2013;16:E47.CrossRef
13.
Mitchell AM, Crane PA, Kim Y. Perceived stress in survivors of suicide: psychometric properties of the perceived stress scale. Res Nurs Health. 2008;31(6):576–85.CrossRef
14.
Mimura C, Griffiths P. A Japanese version of the perceived stress scale: cross-cultural translation and equivalence assessment. BMC Psychiatry. 2008;8:85.CrossRef
15.
Nordin M, Nordin S. Psychometric evaluation and normative data of the Swedish version of the 10-item perceived stress scale. Scand J Psychol. 2013;54(6):502–7.CrossRef
16.
Kim HJ. Reliability and validity of the 4-item version of the Korean perceived stress scale. Res Nurs Health. 2016;39(6):472–9.CrossRef
17.
Chaaya M, Osman H, Naassan G, Mahfoud Z. Validation of the Arabic version of the Cohen perceived stress scale (PSS-10) among pregnant and postpartum women. BMC Psychiatry. 2010;10:111.CrossRef
18.
Jovanovic V, Gavrilov-Jerkovic V. More than a (negative) feeling: validity of the perceived stress scale in Serbian clinical and non-clinical samples. Psihologija. 2015;48(1):5–18.CrossRef
19.
Klein EM, Brähler E, Dreier M, Reinecke L, Müller KW, Schmutzer G, Wölfling K, Beutel ME. The German version of the perceived stress scale – psychometric characteristics in a representative German community sample. BMC psychiatry. 2016;16(1):159.CrossRef
20.
Dao-Tran T, Anderson D, Seib C. The Vietnamese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10): Translation equivalence and psychometric properties among older women. BMC Psychiatry. 2017;17(1):53.CrossRef
21.
Reis RS, Hino AA, Anez CR. Perceived stress scale: reliability and validity study in Brazil. J Health Psychol. 2010;15(1):107–14.CrossRef
22.
Wongpakaran N, Wongpakaran T. The Thai version of the PSS-10: an investigation of its psychometric properties. Biopsychosoc Med. 2010;4:6.CrossRef
23.
Wang Z, Chen J, Boyd JE, Zhang H, Jia X, Qiu J, Xiao Z. Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the perceived stress scale in policewomen. PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e28610.CrossRef
24.
Lu W, Bian Q, Wang W, Wu X, Wang Z, Zhao M. Chinese version of the perceived stress Scale-10: a psychometric study in Chinese university students. PLoS One. 2017;12(12):e189543.
25.
Ng SM. Validation of the 10-item Chinese perceived stress scale in elderly service workers: one-factor versus two-factor structure. BMC Psychol. 2013;1(1):9.CrossRef
26.
Leung DY, Lam TH, Chan SS. Three versions of perceived stress scale: validation in a sample of Chinese cardiac patients who smoke. BMC Public Health. 2010;10:513.CrossRef
27.
Popkin BM, Du S, Zhai F, Zhang B. Cohort profile: the China health and nutrition survey--monitoring and understanding socio-economic and health change in China, 1989-2011. Int J Epidemiol. 2010;39(6):1435–40.CrossRef
28.
Lee EH, Chung BY, Suh CH, Jung JY. Korean versions of the perceived stress scale (PSS-14, 10 and 4): psychometric evaluation in patients with chronic disease. Scand J Caring Sci. 2015;29(1):183–92.CrossRef
29.
Ezzati A, Jiang J, Katz MJ, Sliwinski MJ, Zimmerman ME, Lipton RB. Validation of the perceived stress scale in a community sample of older adults. Int J Geriatr Psych. 2014;29(6):645–52.CrossRef
30.
Ingram PT, Clarke E, Lichtenberg JW. Confirmatory factor analysis of the perceived stress Scale-4 in a community sample. Stress Health. 2016;32(2):173–6.CrossRef
31.
Andreou E, Alexopoulos EC, Lionis C, Varvogli L, Gnardellis C, Chrousos GP, Darviri C. Perceived stress scale: reliability and validity study in Greece. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011;8(8):3287–98.CrossRef
32.
Warttig SL, Forshaw MJ, South J, White AK. New, normative, English-sample data for the short form perceived stress scale (PSS-4). J Health Psychol. 2012;18(12):1617–28.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Psychometric properties of the perceived stress scale in a community sample of Chinese
Authors
Feifei Huang
Huijun Wang
Zhihong Wang
Jiguo Zhang
Wenwen Du
Chang Su
Xiaofang Jia
Yifei Ouyang
Yun Wang
Li Li
Hongru Jiang
Bing Zhang
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02520-4

Other articles of this Issue 1/2020

BMC Psychiatry 1/2020 Go to the issue

Research article

Disability and severe depression among Peruvian older adults: analysis of the Peru Demographic and Family Health Survey, ENDES 2017

Research article

Psychological distress among carers and the moderating effects of social support

Research article

A cross-sectional study on spouse and parent differences in caregiving experiences of people living with schizophrenia in rural China

Research article

Adolescents at risk of self-harm in Ghana: a qualitative interview study exploring the views and experiences of key adult informants

Research article

Validity and clinical utility of the obsessive compulsive inventory - child version: further evaluation in clinical samples

Research article

The impact of parental psychopathology and sociodemographic factors in selective mutism - a nationwide population-based study