Welcome to your Perceived Stress Scale Questionnaire.
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress. It is a measure of the degree to which situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful. Items were designed to tap how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded respondents find their lives. The scale also includes a number of direct queries about current levels of experienced stress. The PSS was designed for use in community samples with at least a junior high school education. The items are easy to understand, and the response alternatives are simple to grasp. Moreover, the questions are of a general nature and hence are relatively free of content specific to any subpopulation group. The questions in the PSS ask about feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, respondents are asked how often they felt a certain way.
We acknowledge that this is the work of Sheldon Cohen. Science Direct included this as part of their summary: Overall, the PSS is an easy-to-use questionnaire with established acceptable psychometric properties.
Disclaimer: The scores on the following self-assessment do not reflect any particular diagnosis or course of treatment.
In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?
In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?
In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and “stressed”?
In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?
In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?
In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?
In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life?
In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?
In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that were outside of your control?
In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?
