Abstract
BackgroundChinese adolescents encounter a lot of stressors, such as academic burden and parental pressure. However, little is known about their perception of stress. The 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) is a widely used instrument to measure individuals’ appraisal of global stress in academic research and clinical practice. The current study aimed to evaluate the best-fit factor structure model of the PSS-10 and the measurement invariance across genders in Chinese adolescents.MethodsA total of 1,574 Chinese senior high school students completed the PSS-10 (mean age = 15.26 ± 0.56 years, female = 54%). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to determine the factor structure of the PSS-10. Multigroup CFA was carried out to test the measurement invariance of the PSS-10 across genders. A subsample (N = 1,060) answered additional questionnaires measuring stressful life events, anxiety, and depression to examine the convergent and concurrent validity of the PSS-10.ResultsThe two-factor model was supported [i.e., χ2 (34) = 332.224, p < 0.001; non-normal fit index (NNFI) = 0.901, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.925, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.075, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.051]. Importantly, the model exhibited strong measurement invariance across female and male groups. Furthermore, the PSS-10 had adequate convergent validity for stressful life events (number: r = 0.13, p < 0.001; impact: r = 0.23, p < 0.001) and could explain incremental variance in predicting anxiety (ΔR2 = 0.13, β = 0.38, p < 0.001) and depression (ΔR2 = 0.16, β = 0.41, p < 0.001), suggesting excellent concurrent validity.ConclusionA two-factor model best fits the structure of PSS-10 among Chinese adolescents, with strong measurement invariance between gender groups, demonstrating its validity for assessing perceived stress among Chinese adolescents.
Highlights
It has been argued that adolescence is a transition period in one’s life in which one undergoes biological, social, and psychological changes (McNamara, 2000; Tsai et al, 2015a,b, 2018; Lin and Tsai, 2016; Strong et al, 2016; Lee et al, 2017; Foulkes and Blakemore, 2018; Blakemore, 2019)
We tested the correlations between the two subscales of the PSS-10 and the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist (ASLEC), and the results showed that Factor 1 (Perceived Helplessness) was significantly related to both the number (r = 0.12, p < 0.001) and the impact (r = 0.21, p < 0.001) of the ASLEC, whereas Factor 2 (Perceived Self-Efficacy) was only associated with the impact (r = 0.11, p < 0.001) but not the number (r = 0.05, p = 0.10) of the ASLEC
The results revealed that perceived stress explained an additional 13% of the variance when predicting anxiety ( R2 = 0.13, β = 0.38, p < 0.001) and an additional 16% of the variance when predicting depression ( R2 = 0.16, β = 0.41, p < 0.001) beyond the variance already explained by age, gender, ASLEC number, and ASLEC impact (Table 4)
Summary
It has been argued that adolescence is a transition period in one’s life in which one undergoes biological, social, and psychological changes (McNamara, 2000; Tsai et al, 2015a,b, 2018; Lin and Tsai, 2016; Strong et al, 2016; Lee et al, 2017; Foulkes and Blakemore, 2018; Blakemore, 2019). Many psychological disorders, such as anxiety and depression, begin at adolescence and persist into adulthood (Blakemore, 2019). The current study aimed to evaluate the best-fit factor structure model of the PSS-10 and the measurement invariance across genders in Chinese adolescents
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