MANUAL Bete

FOR 2 AUG
STRESS SCALE
(FOR STUDENTS)

Bv
Dr. Prerna Puri, Dr. Tejinder Kaur and Prof. Manju Mehta
Department of Psychology
University of Rajasthan.
JAIPUR

OAPRC 2011

Published Bv

Agra Psychological Research Cell

Tiwari Kothi. Belanganj, Agra-282001
 Students
for
Stress Scale in stress rese
Hans Selye
(1936), a pioneer seareh
of life. d e m a n d s made uuo
Stress is
found in all aspects of the body to any
response w e consciousl
stress as
"the nonspecifie reaction to anything
defined
Stress c a n evoke feeli
has state or
internal
to be an
It is
considered
either real or inagined. loneliness
sadness, inadequacy, guilt,
as a threat,
unconsciously perceive hurt, anger,
or

frustration, fear, conflict, pressure,

confusion. etfort t0 pertorn at their ha
best
make enough
little stress may not concentrate or pertor
Individuals under too are unable to
stress often
level, while those under too much
effectively and efficiently.
and responses,
behavioral
result in physical, psychologieal
Too much stress can
cardiovascular system (heart
and blood cireulation
affects all parts of the body. The
adversely endocrine system (the hormone system); the
stress impacts the
system) apart, immune system (the body's defence
syystem (digestive system) and the
gastro-intestinal of heart disease
Stress causes high blood pressure
(hypertension) that raises risk
system. cause ulcerative colitis and
secretion in the stomach that may
and stroke, increases acid for
the immune system to increase the susceptibility
irritable bowel syndrome, suppresses
such as asthma, causes anxiety and
colds and other infectious diseases, aggravates allergies
addictions such as smoking, alcohol and drugs.
depression that raise risk of
it in different ways. Some adapt while
However, stress is subjective, and people react to
to pieces at the first sign of stress while
others tolerate it or try always to avoid it. Some go
on the situation and his/her
others seem to thrive on it. Much of a person's reaction depends
skills in prevention and reduction of stress.
Each life stage with its unique developmental tasks and roles, is associated with distinct
factors that predict distress. Student life has been found to be a crucial stage in life.
Changing familiai and social expectations, along with the task of forming stable patterns of
relating to others, interact in complex ways to make this a stresstiul period.
Students experience high stress due to academie commitment, financial pressure and
lack of time management skills. These problems can lead to academic failure, family
conflicts, drug abuse, violence and suicide and thus can be very costly to families, to the
health care system and to the community at large.
Recognizing the early signs of stress and doing something about it. can improve the
quality of theirpresent and future life. Keeping this in mind the present seale is developed
to assess the level of stress among students so that they can be guided with regard to stress
management.
Development of Scale
For assessing the level of stress amongst the students the present seale was developed.
Initially 126 items were framed keeping in mind the characteristics and dimensions of stress,
mentioned by Pestonje (1992) and Selye (1936). The items were framed in English as well
as in Hindi. These 126 items were given to 10 experts in the field of psychology. They were
 3

asked judge the relevance of each item in relation to stress. Experts in English language
to

and Hindi language were also given drafts of this test to check about language mistakes
On the basis of their judgment, the items were modified and sorted out. Out of 126 items,
100 itens were retained for preliminary draft.
The Tryout
The preliminary draft was administered to a sample of 500 girl students of three
faculties i.e. Science, Arts and Commerce studying in either 1st year or 2nd year of their
degree courses from University Maharani College, Jaipur. The students were asked to
respond how often they have gone through the situations under question during the last six
months and indicate it on the four point scale (very often, often, sometimes and never)
provided with each of the question by marking (V) to the answers which suits them. The
test was administered to the subjects individually.
The Final Scale
On the basis of the data obtained from all the 500 college students, item analysis was
carried out to determine the validity and diffieculty indices of each item. On the basis of the
total number of scores, two groups were formed i.e. a 'high' group and a 'low group. To
ereate these two groups, the scores were arranged from highest to lowest. The higBhest seore
was at the top of the list. High group consisted of those as having the top 27°% of the seores
and low group consisted of those having the bottom 27% of the scores. The discriminati0n
index and difficulty level of each item was found by method described by Salkind (2003).
Only 34 items having difficulty index between .25 to .61 and validity index of above .30
were selected for the final scale which are shown in table-1. The frequeney distribution and
statistics of standardization sample based on obtained total scores on items of final seale is
given in table-2.
Table-1 Difficulty Index and Validity Index of the Items Selected for Stress
Scale.

Item No. of Final Item No. of

Diffieulty Index Validity lndex
Stress Scale preliminary draft

2 0.55 .50

2 4 0.32 0.50

3 12 0.37 0.60

17 0.27 0.49

5 21 0.30 0.59

6 26 0.27 0.44

7 28 0.28 0.50

8 0.29 0.54

9 34 0.33 0.59
Contd.
 4

Item No. of Final Item No. of

Difficulty Index
Stress Scale preliminary draft Validity Index
10 35 0.25
0.43
11 39 0.35
0.48
12 42 0.38
0.45
13 45 0.27
0.39
14 48 0.37
0.58
15 49 0.46
16
0.63
50 0.32
0.51
17
52 0.31
0.52
18
63 0.27
0.51
19 68
0.34 0.38
20 69 0.32
0.31
21 70
0.25
0.45
22 74
0.26
0.43
23 80
0.33
0.35
24
82
0.36
0.65
25 83
0.56
26 0.55
85
0.26
27 0.35
87
0.28
28
0.52
91
0.26
29 0.45
92
0.61 0.35
30
93
0.31
31 0.57
96
0.41 0.53
32
98
0.52 0.61
33
99
0.34 0.56
34
100
0.40 0.56
 Statisties of Total Score of
Table- Frequeney Distribution and
Standardization Sample on Items of Final Stress Seale.

Class Interval Frequency Smoothed frequency

120 122 0.00

117-119 O.33

114-116 0,67

111-113 67

108-110 1.67

105-107 2.67

102-104 11 6.33

99-101 12 9.00

9698 19 14.00

93-95 19 16.67
90-92 18 18.6

S7-89 14 17.00

84 86 30 20.67

81-83 33 25.67

78-80 34 32.33

75-77 34 33.67

72-74 37 35.00

69-71 40 37.00

66-68 42 39.67
63-65 34 38.67

60-62 35 37.00

57-59 25 31.33
54-56 26 28.67
51-53 13 21.33
Contd.
 6

Class Interval Frequency Smoothed frequency

48-50 6 15.00

45-47 8.33

42-44 2 4.67

39-41 0 2.67

36-38 0 0.67

33-35 0.00

500 500

N 500

Mean 74.520

Median = 73.000

Mode = 79.000

SD = 14.649

SEM = .655

Reliability
Reliability of the scale was determined by split-half method, on the scores of
standardization sample taking items selected for final scale. It was found out to be .90.

Validity
To determine the validity of the scale, tetracoric r between the total score on 34 items
selected for final scale and 100 items pool of preliminary draft was calculated which was
97. Thus, it be said that 34 items scale is as good in discriminating subjects having
can

high level of stress from low level of stress as the 100 item preliminary draft. Furthermore,
factorial validity of the scale was also established by factor analysis of the data on 500
Subjects on the 34 selected items using principal component method. Ten factors mentioned
in Table-3 were extracted after the rotation was done by Kaiser Varimax method. Every
item having more than t .38 factor loading on any given factor was considered to De
psychologically relevant in labeling of factors.
 7

Table-3: Factors Underlying Level of Stress Taking Scores of Standardization

Sample on Items of Final Scale.

Factor Factors Relevant items Rotated factor Loading

No.
Generalized stres8s 3 43
57
46
52
16 .43
17 .48
18 .56
21 .50
24 .54
27 .56
28 .57
32 47
33 63
34 38

2. Career and academic 14 .47

stress 15 67
30 65
31 .44
Stress prone tendencies 20 .51
3
26 .65
29 .56
32 48

4. Irritability 6 .70
11 .73

5. |Easy going persornality 5 .63

13 .69

6. |Low level of stress 3 .44

management skills 9 .38
10 42
12 .56

7. Negative mood state 4 62

25 .47

8. Meaningless thoughts 2 .80

9. Physical symptoms of 22 66
stress 23 .44

10. Apprehensive behaviour 1 .51

19 - 47
 VaranCa
in ble 1 ahW
hal o th i.

Cumulative pereentage
giVen

these ten factor

P'netorn Kxtras
Table-4:
Contribution a d igen Value of Ten Prineipal neted on
Stress Seale.

Eigen Vulue Cum. 1ct.

Factors

21.0
7.13
1.58 2.6.7
147 30,0
I.31 3:3.9
IV
121 37.4
1.18 40.9
VI
1.12 44.2
VIl
1.05 47.3
VI
1.02 50.4
IX
X 1,00 53 3

Directions for Administration and Scoring

1. It is a self administering scale. 1t can be administered on lndividual as well as in

group setting.
2. No time limit should be given, although subject should be instructed not to lake to
long on a statement most of the subjects can finish within 20 minutes.

3 Though the scale is self administering, instructions printed on the scale form should
be read out to the subjects

4 The subjects should be told that their results will be kept confidential.

5. For each item, scores are to be awarded according to the following scoring pattern :
Very often (4), Often (3), Some times (2), Never (1).
Scoring
The scoring system is simple. (4 is given for very often, 3 for often, 2 for sometimes
and 1 for never) The encircled numbers on each of the items have to be added. All the items
are indicative of stress, Higher scores show higher level of stress. The maximum possible
score is 136 and the minimum
possible score is 34.
Norms
Percentile equivalent of raw scores were calculated which are given in table-.
dividing points between various stanine grades are given in table-6. The stanine nor are
depicted in table-7.
 Stress Scale for College
Students.

Percentile Score Raw Score

5 53.00

10 56.00

15 59.00

20 61.00

25 64.00

30 66.00

35 67.00

40 69.00

45 71.00

50 73.00

55 75.00

60 78.00

65 79.00

70 82.00

75 87.00

80 S7.00

85 92.00

90 6 00

95 101.00
 10

Between Various Stanine Grades

in Accu:.ulated
Table-6: Dividing Points
Percentages.

Interpretation Stanine Grades Accumulated Percentage

9 Above 96.0%
High
Above Average 8 Above 89.0% and below 96.0%

7 Above 77.0% and below 89.0%

Average 6 Above 60.0% and below 77.0%

5 |Above 40.0% and below 60.0%

Below Average 4 Above 23.0% and below 40.0%

3 Above 11.0% and below 23.0%

Low 2 Above 4.0% and below 11.0%

1 Below 4.0%

Table-7: The Range of Raw Scores Corresponding to the Stanine Grades.

Stanine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Grades
Raw Below 50-53 54-58 59-64 65-73 74-80 81-90 91-96 97 and
Scores 49
Above
Utility of the Test
Life today is becoming increasingly complex and tension ridden. It has been
found that
most of the social, psychological and emotional
problems are related to
unrelieved stress.
Today's students are more stressed than their earlier generations because of lot of
competition and loss of values
This scale would be useful for
measuring the stress level of students of
secondary/senior
secondary, college and university level. With proper identification of problem,
can be given. This will help
timely support
students to manage their stress level and be
productive member of society. healthy and
Further, the scale will be useful for research
purpose also, especially for identifying
factors related to stress
among students.
 stonje, LISZ). Siress and coping : The Indian CXperiCnce,
Delhi Sage.

Salkind, N.J.(2003). Exploring research. (5th ed.), New Jersey: Prent.

Sarin, S.K. (2008). Taking the sting out 20th

of stressors. Sunday, 20
Times, New Delhi.

Selye, H. (1936).A syndrome produced by diverse noeuous agents.

Selye H. (1956). The stress of life. New York Mc Graw Hill.