Perceived Stress Scale: confirmatory factor analysis of the PSS14 and PSS10 versions in two samples of pregnant women from the BRISA cohort

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the dimensional structure, reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and scalability of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The sample consisted of 1,447 pregnant women in São Luís (Maranhão State) and 1,400 in Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo State), Brazil. The 14 and 10-item versions of the scale were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis, using weighted least squares means and variance (WLSMV). In both cities, the two-factor models (positive factors, measuring resilience to stressful situations, and negative factors, measuring stressful situations) showed better fit than the single-factor models. The two-factor models for the complete (PSS14) and reduced scale (PSS10) showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.70). All the factor loadings were ≥ 0.50, except for items 8 and 12 of the negative dimension and item 13 of the positive dimension. The correlations between both dimensions of stress and psychological violence showed the expected magnitude (0.46-0.59), providing evidence of an adequate convergent construct validity. The correlations between the scales' positive and negative dimensions were around 0.74-0.78, less than 0.85, which suggests adequate discriminant validity. Extracted mean variance and scalability were slightly higher for PSS10 than for PSS14. The results were consistent in both cities. In conclusion, the single-factor solution is not recommended for assessing stress in pregnant women. The reduced, 10-item two-factor scale appears to be more appropriate for measuring perceived stress in pregnant women.

<p>Perceived Stress and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Urban Thailand</p>

“…The PSS used in this study was a 10-item version (PSS10) which was more appropriate for measuring perceived stress in pregnant women than the original 14-item version (PSS-14). 19 The PSS has been translated into various languages. The Thai version of the PSS-10 (T-PSS-10) was assessed by studying in 479 adult participants in Northern Thailand.…”

Impact of COVID-19 on psychology of nurses working in the emergency and fever outpatient:A cross-sectional survey

“…The shorter forms of the items were selected from the original PSS-14. The PSS scale had been used to measure stress of patients, police, students, nurses, pregnant women and the elderly in many countries [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. PSS-14 was first introduced for Chinese population by professor Yang et al in 2003 [34].…”

Measuring stress in Australia: validation of the perceived stress scale (PSS-14) in a national sample

“…It has been shown, for example, that Item 12 was endorsed by respondents with low and high levels of perceived stress, since "thinking about all the things you have to accomplish" does not necessarily mean being overwhelmed by them but also constitutes a self-management behaviour [87]. Studies that reported problems with Item 8 were less common [5,89]. Finally, the Perceived Stress subscale displayed the expected pattern of convergent/divergent validity and known-groups validity except for education, providing further support for construct validity in the Australian population.…”