Assessing psychological stress in South African university students: Measurement validity of the perceived stress scale (PSS-10) in diverse populations

Abstract

Valid psychological measures of stress are essential for the detection, management and prevention of stress and related mental illnesses. In this study the factorial structure, measurement invariance (gender and race), and reliability of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) were evaluated in a sample of university students (N = 862). Five competing measurement models of the PSS-10 (i.e., one-factor; correlated two-factor; bifactor with two domain specific factors; a bifactor, with the perceived self-efficacy factor; and a bifactor model, with the distress factor) were examined using confirmatory factor analysis and cross-validated using Rasch analysis. The two-factor model prevailed over the alternative latent structures, was invariant across gender and race groups, and had acceptable internal consistency reliability. This study supports the validity of the PSS-10 for use with diverse student populations.