Brief Description
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) assesses stress levels by looking at how often a person perceives different situations in their life as stressful or not and evaluating the degree to which an individual has perceived life as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloading over the previous month. Originally developed in the 1980s, the PSS-10 remains a popular choice for helping individuals understand how different situations affect their feelings and perceived stress. Respondents rate how often they felt or thought about the stress symptoms listed (e.g., “In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?”) on a scale from “Never” to “Very Often.”
Assessment Administration Type
Self-report
Number of questions
10
Age Range for Administration
12+
Recommended Frequency of Administration
Monthly
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
The PSS-10 contains 10 questions scored on a 5-point Likert scale with values from 0 (“Never”) to 4 (“Very Often”). A total score is calculated by summing the item responses and ranges from 0 to 40; higher scores are associated with higher perceptions of stress in a person’s life. The four positively-stated items are reverse scored: items 4, 5, 7, 8. See table below for score interpretations.
Score range | Severity of perceived stress |
0-13 | Low stress |
14-26 | Moderate stress |
27-40 | High stress |
There are two subscales in the PSS-10: Perceived Helplessness and Lack of Self-Efficacy. Perceived helplessness measures an individual’s feelings of a lack of control over their circumstances or their own emotions or reactions. Lack of self-efficacy measures an individual’s perceived inability to handle problems. Subscale scores are calculated by summing the corresponding item responses. See table below for subscales and associated item numbers.
Subscale | Items |
Perceived helplessness | 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10 |
Lack of self-efficacy | 4, 5, 7, 8 |
Blueprint Adjustments
N/A
Clinical Considerations
Estimated completion time: 2-4 minutes
The PSS-10 is not a diagnostic instrument.
There are other versions of the PSS-10: a 14-item and 4-item version.
Because levels of appraised stress are influenced by daily hassles, major events, and changes in coping resources, predictive validity of the PSS-10 is expected to fall off rapidly after four to eight weeks.
Higher levels of psychological stress as measured by the PSS-10 have been associated with elevated markers of biological aging and higher cortisol levels, as well as suppressed immune function. Those who score higher on the PSS also tend to report poorer health practices, such as sleeping fewer hours, skipping breakfast, and consuming greater quantities of alcohol.
Citation
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