SAS4: Validation of a Four-Item Measure of Worry and Rumination

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

“…As Smith et al. (: 123) note with respect to the SAS4, self‐report measures of stress have not been indisputably proven to cause activation of the physiological stress response, and the self‐report mode of psychological measurement is potentially vulnerable to individual biases and defense mechanisms. However, as noted above, the conditions measuring stress using the PSS10 have been shown to be correlated with physiological stress arousal, and the scale has been shown to be a valid and reliable measure in previous research.…”

“…In research settings, this valid, reliable, and parsimonious scale will allow additional measures to be incorporated into investigations that might otherwise be excluded due instrument length constraints. (For a discussion of additional benefits of parsimonious scales, see Smith et al., : 122–23. )…”

“…To assess internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated with the data from the calibration and validation samples for the full scale and the General‐Distress and Ability‐to‐Cope subscales. To assess convergent validity, we conducted correlation analyses of PSS10 scores with those on the Stress Arousal Scale 4 (SAS4: Smith, Everly, and Haight, ) using data available for the full sample. The SAS4, a newly validated measure of worry and rumination based on the Perseverative Cognition Hypothesis (Brosschot, Gerin, and Thayer, ), is a four‐item scale designed to measure how often (i.e., within the past few weeks) respondents have experienced various cognitive‐affective conditions from among the following response options: (1) seldom or never; (2) sometimes; (3) often; (4) almost always.…”

“…Smith et al. (: 118) reported Cronbach's alpha scores for the SAS4 ranging from 0.854 to 0.872 for four independent samples of undergraduate business students and 0.882 for a sample of AICPA members employed in public accounting.…”

“…analyses of PSS10 scores with those on the Stress Arousal Scale 4 (SAS4: Smith, Everly, and Haight, 2012) using data available for the full sample. The SAS4, a newly validated measure of worry and rumination based on the Perseverative Cognition Hypothesis (Brosschot, Gerin, and Thayer, 2006), is a four-item scale designed to measure how often (i.e., within the past few weeks) respondents have experienced various cognitive-affective conditions from among the following response options: (1) seldom or never; (2) sometimes; (3) often; (4) almost always.…”