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

Chen Jiang; Stefanos Mastrotheodoros; Yihong Zhu; You Yang; Souheil Hallit; Bing Zhao; Yuping Fan; Mengyi Huang; Cen Chen; Haiyan Ma; Runtang Meng

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S385510

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

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023 Jan 7:16:71-83. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S385510. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Chen Jiang^#¹, Stefanos Mastrotheodoros^{2

3}, Yihong Zhu^#⁴, You Yang⁵, Souheil Hallit^{6

7

8}, Bing Zhao⁴, Yuping Fan¹, Mengyi Huang¹, Cen Chen¹, Haiyan Ma^{1

9}, Runtang Meng^#^{1

9}

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece.
³ Department of Youth and Family, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
⁴ The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
⁵ School of Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
⁶ School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon.
⁷ Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
⁸ Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon.
⁹ Engineering Research Center of Mobile Health Management System, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: 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.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Medical Research Fund of Zhejiang Province, grant number: 2023RC073 and the Research Initiation Fund of Hangzhou Normal University, grant number: RWSK20201003.