The Perceived Stress Scale is a psychological test that measures an individual’s perception of stress in their life. It has three versions, with the 10-question version being the most reliable. The questions are easy to understand and do not address specific events or stress triggers. The score is calculated by assigning numerical values to each response, allowing health professionals to diagnose physical and mental problems caused by stress.
The Perceived Stress Scale is a psychological test used to measure an individual’s perception of stress in their life. The test has three versions all composed of similar questions to help determine the overall levels and triggers of stress in a person’s life. The most commonly used version of the Perceived Stress Scale is a 10-question test that asks the individual to rate how often they have felt or thought certain things in the past month. Other versions of the scale include four or 14 questions, although the 10-question scale is thought to be the most reliable.
The questions included in the Perceived Stress Scale test are simply worded and are easy to understand, making it a good choice to use with most people who are able to read at a junior level. The questions do not address specific events or stress triggers because the goal of the Perceived Stress Scale is to arrive at a score that allows the test administrator to assess general levels of daily stress in a person’s life. The Perceived Stress Scale questions ask the candidate to rate how often they have felt a certain way or how often they have been able to mentally handle irritations and frustrations. Choices for questions on the Perceived Stress Scale include Never, Hardly Never, Sometimes, Quite Often, and Very Often.
The Perceived Stress Scale score requires a simple calculation in which a numerical value is assigned to each possible choice a respondent might choose. The numbers for possible responses coincide with how much that particular response correlates with stress for the question. For example, an answer of “never” would be given a score of four to the question “Over the past month, how many times have you felt confident in your ability to handle your personal issues?” The answer “never” would be assigned a value of zero, however, for the question “Over the past month, how many times have you felt that things were going right?”
By adding up the scores, researchers, psychiatrists and other health professionals can get a relative idea of how stressed the individual feels in their daily life. This can help with diagnosing physical and mental problems, as high levels of stress can contribute to high blood pressure, heart problems, appetite changes, depression, and many other mental and physical conditions. If an individual is under a lot of stress, treatment may include relaxation therapies or techniques to help reduce the perception of stress and allow the body and brain to heal.
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