Perceived Stress Scale

The Perceived Stress Scale is a questionnaire used to measure a persons perception of stress over the past month and to determine the likelihood of whether perceived stress might be making them more susceptible to stress-induced compromise of their health. Getting Started: 1. Read each question. 2. After reading each question consider how often you felt or thought that way over the past month (Never, Almost Never, Sometimes, Fairly Often, or Very Often). 3. Place whichever of the following letter grades [N (Never), AN (Almost Never), S (Sometimes), FO (Fairly Often), or VO (Very Often)] which best describes how often you felt or thought that way, in the box to the right of the question, labeled Rating. 4. After rating each question, go to the tables under Perceived Stress Scale Scoring (page 2) to get your numerical grade for each response, and write these numbers to the right of each question in the box labeled Score. 5. Add the numbers in the Score column together to get your total PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE SCORE. Question Rating 1. How often have you been upset because of something that happened 2 unexpectedly? 2. How often have you felt that you were unable to control the important AN things in your life? 3. How often have you felt nervous and "stressed"? AN 4. How often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your VO personal problems? 5. How often have you felt that things were going your way? VO 6. How often have you found that you could not cope with all the things N that you had to do? 7. How often have you been able to control irritations in your life? VO 8. How often have you felt that you were on top of things? VO 9. How often have you been angered because of things that were outside AN of your control? 10. How often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you AN could not overcome them? Total Perceived Stress Scale Score: ___6_____ Perceived Stress Scale Scoring Score 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

2006-2010 Gregory Kelly and Mark Percival

For Questions 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, & 10 use the below to get your numerical score for each of your responses: N (Never) AN (Almost S (Sometimes) FO (Fairly VO (Very Never) Often) Often) 0 1 2 3 4 For Questions 4, 5, 7 & 8 use the below to get your numerical score for each of your responses: N (Never) AN (Almost S (Sometimes) FO (Fairly VO (Very Never) Often) Often) 4 3 2 1 0 Interpretation Higher Perceived Stress Scale Scores are associated with higher levels of stress and indicate a greater likelihood for stress interfering with things like lifestyle changes (a persons efforts to quit smoking) and their ability to improve their shape. Higher scores are associated with an increase in a persons vulnerability to compromised health, especially if a big life stress (loss of a job, end of a relationship, death of a loved one, etc.) occurs in the near future. Higher scores are also associated with increased susceptibility to stress-induced illness. Total Score 0-7 8-11 12-15 16-20 21 and over Your Perceived Stress Level is: Much Lower than Average Slightly Lower than Average Average Slightly Higher than Average Much Higher than Average Health Concern Level Very Low Low Average High Very High

References
Cohen S, KamarckT, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Social Behavior 1983:24;385-396. Copyright of the Perceived Stress Scale is held by Sheldon Cohen. Copyright holder has granted permission for it to be used for educational, research, and academic purposes.

2006-2010 Gregory Kelly and Mark Percival