Psychometric properties of the perceived stress scale in Ethiopian university students

Abstract

BackgroundStress is a common psychological condition usually associated with many psycho-physical disorders. Stress and its risk factors are frequently seen in Ethiopians including university students. In such circumstances, a valid measure to screen for stress in Ethiopians is necessary. Therefore, we assessed the psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) in Ethiopian university students.MethodsA cross-sectional study with a simple random sampling method was performed on students of Mizan-Tepi University, Mizan-Aman, Ethiopia. The study presents a psychometric investigation on a sample of 387 students (age = 21.8 ± 3.8 years, and body mass index = 20.8 ± 3.2 kg/m2) who completed PSS, Generalized anxiety disorder-7 scale (GAD-7), and a socio-demographics tool. McDonald’s Omega (internal consistency), factor validity for ordinal data and convergent validity (Spearman’s correlation) were assessed.ResultsNo ceiling/floor effect was seen for the total or factor scores of the PSS-10 and PSS-4. Two factor model of the PSS-10 was favored by fit indices with Comparative Fit Index> 0.95, Weighted root mean square residual<.05 and root mean square error of approximation<.08. McDonald’s Omega was 0.78 and 0.68 for the PSS-10: Factor-1 and PSS-10: Factor-2, respectively. McDonald’s Omega was 0.70 and 0.54 for the PSS-4: Factor-1 and PSS-4: Factor-2, respectively. There were moderate-strong correlations (r = 0.62–0.83) between PSS factors and respective items loading on them. PSS scores were correlated with GAD-7 (r = .27–.40, p < .01).ConclusionThe psychometric measures support the validity of the PSS-10 in Ethiopian university students.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-6310-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Excessive daytime sleepiness and its predictors among medical and health science students of University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia: institution-based cross-sectional study

“…We used the perceived stress scale that is validated in Ethiopia [33], composed of 10 items each with five possible responses, and the overall value of a scale ranges from zero to 40.…”

Prevalence of depression and associated factors among epileptic patients at Ilu Ababore zone hospitals, South West Ethiopia, 2017: a cross‑sectional study

“…PSS had an internal consistence of Cronbach's alpha for the total score of PSS = 0.793 [38]. Even though it is not directly on epileptic patients, PSS is validated among Ethiopian university students [39].…”

<p>Psychometric Analysis of the Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthy University Students</p>

“…[27][28][29][30] Several past studies have examined the validity of PSS-10 to assess perceived stress among university students. [31][32][33][34][35][36][37] For example, a previous study examined confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of PSS-10 and they found the 2-factor model is most suitable to assess perceived stress among the Ethiopian university students. 31 Similarly, another study evaluated the principal components factor analysis of PSS-10 and they reported an adequate reliability and validity of PSS-10 to measure perceived stress among Turkish university students.…”

“…[31][32][33][34][35][36][37] For example, a previous study examined confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of PSS-10 and they found the 2-factor model is most suitable to assess perceived stress among the Ethiopian university students. 31 Similarly, another study evaluated the principal components factor analysis of PSS-10 and they reported an adequate reliability and validity of PSS-10 to measure perceived stress among Turkish university students. 32 Additionally, Lu et al 34 conducted construct validity analysis of PSS-10 and they reported that the 2-factor model of the principal component analysis indicated positive (Factor 1) and negative (Factor 2) perception of stress among Chinese university students.…”