Gender Effect According to Item Directionality on the Perceived Stress Scale for Adults With Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Assessment is critical to rehabilitation practice and research, and self-reports are a commonly used form of assessment. This study examines a gender effect according to item wording on the Perceived Stress Scale for adults with multiple sclerosis. Past studies have demonstrated two-factor solutions on this scale and other scales measuring stress-related constructs with factor loadings being determined by item wording. Moreover, women have typically scored higher on these measured constructs. However, a literature review reveals that this gender difference often manifests only on the factor composed of negatively worded items. This study extends this line of research by examining gender differences on the Perceived Stress Scale on the negatively worded items at both the item and bundle levels after controlling for responses on the positively worded items. Implications of this study on the field of rehabilitation are discussed.

An Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS10) with Business and Accounting Students

“…The PSS has been utilized in numerous studies as a self‐report measure of perceived stress in a variety of fields since its development (see Gitchel, Roessler, and Turner, : 22 for a review). It has been used in a wide range of settings with general and clinical populations to demonstrate acceptable psychometric properties for evaluating perceived stress (see Remor, : 87 for a review), associations with established measures of anxiety, stress, coping, depression, and other physiological responses (for reviews, see Örücü and Demir, : 104; Mimura and Griffiths, : 380).…”

“…Gitchel et al. (: 21) note that multiple studies using disparate sample populations have consistently shown that the PSS items load on two factors: the negatively worded items loading on one and the positively worded items on the other . Previous researchers have attached various labels to these factors such as General Distress and Ability to Cope (Hewitt, Fleck, and Mosher, ), and Perceived Helplessness and Perceived Self‐Efficacy (Roberti, Harrington, and Storch, ).…”

“…Gitchel et al. (: 21) note that in multiple studies using diverse populations, women have reported consistently higher overall PSS scores than men on negatively worded items. However, no consistent gender differences have emerged for the scores on the positively worded items.…”

“…In doing so, we will address Gitchel et al. 's () suggestion “that the construct validity of the PSS as a unidimensional measure of perceived stress needs to be further investigated” (24). Specifically, this study examines (1) the factor structure of the PSS10; (2) the invariance of its factor structure between students categorized by institution (as described below) and gender; and (3) the scale's convergent and divergent validity.…”

Looking for the Possible Association Between Stress, Presenteeism and Absenteeism Among Croatian Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…According to previous studies, females have consistently higher PSS scores. This was attributed to negatively scored items in the PSS; females often score higher and subjectively experience more stress than males and show a greater worry-disposition (39,(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49). However, nurses, who had experienced presenteeism, had a statistically significant higher PSS score (21.42).…”