Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Jan 2023)

The Chinese Version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire-13: Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance for Medical Students

  • Jiang C,
  • Mastrotheodoros S,
  • Zhu Y,
  • Yang Y,
  • Hallit S,
  • Zhao B,
  • Fan Y,
  • Huang M,
  • Chen C,
  • Ma H,
  • Meng R

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 71 – 83

Abstract

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Chen Jiang,1,* Stefanos Mastrotheodoros,2,3 Yihong Zhu,4,* You Yang,5 Souheil Hallit,6– 8 Bing Zhao,4 Yuping Fan,1 Mengyi Huang,1 Cen Chen,1 Haiyan Ma,1,9 Runtang Meng1,9,* 1School of Public Health, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece; 3Department of Youth and Family, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; 4The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 5School of Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 6School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon; 7Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan; 8Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon; 9Engineering Research Center of Mobile Health Management System, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Runtang Meng; Haiyan Ma, School of Public Health, Hangzhou Normal University, No. 2318, Yuhangtang Road, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311121, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Stress may relate to an increased risk of psychological and physical disorders. Thus, a brief and efficient measurement instrument for researchers to measure stress is essentially needed.Participants and Methods: To assess measurement properties of the validated Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire-13 (PSQ-C-13), we conducted a two-wave longitudinal study from September to December, 2021 with a convenient sample of medical students.Results: A two-factor (constraint and imbalance) structure showed good fit indices (Comparative Fit Index [CFI] = 0.972, Tucker-Lewis Index [TLI] = 0.966, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] = 0.062). Spearman correlations with the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale-10 illustrated that convergent validity of the PSQ-C-13 was relatively satisfactory (r = 0.678 [baseline], 0.753 [follow-up]). Measurement invariance was supported across subgroups (gender, age, home location, single-child status, monthly households’ income, and part-time status) and time points. Internal consistency was sound (Cronbach’s α = 0.908 [baseline], 0.922 [follow-up]; McDonald’s ω = 0.909 [baseline], 0.923 [follow-up]). Stability between time points was good (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient = 0.834).Conclusion: The two factors of the PSQ-C-13 including constraint and imbalance may adequately measure the level of stress on participants. The PSQ-C-13 is a convenient and efficient instrument that contains valid and reliable psychometric properties.Keywords: Perceived Stress Questionnaire, longitudinal survey, medical students, psychometrics

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