The Adolescent Distress-Eustress Scale: Development and Validation

Abstract

Lay definitions tend to conceptualize stress as negative, undesirable, and maladaptive. However, contemporary stress models emphasize the differentiation between negative and positive stress responses, known as distress and eustress. Despite prominent theoretical conceptualisations accepting the existence of eustress, the vast majority of stress measures tend to focus exclusively on the distress response. The current study introduces the Adolescent Distress-Eustress Scale (ADES) which holistically captures both aspects of the stress response, bridging the gap between theory and measurement and counteracting the typically negatively focused approach to stress research. The ADES was systematically developed and tested in a socio-educationally diverse sample of 981 adolescents ( M age = 15.19, 50.62% female). The finalized self-report scale consists of two 5-item subscales, individually indexing distress and eustress. Initial psychometric properties of the ADES are promising, and the scale has the potential to meet the needs of researchers, schools, and organizations.