The COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire: Validation in Spanish university students from health sciences

Federica Vallone; Maria Francesca Cattaneo Della Volta; Luis Iván Mayor Silva; Alfonso Meneses Monroy; Maura Galletta; Felice Curcio; Maria Clelia Zurlo

doi:10.1177/20551029221135293

The COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire: Validation in Spanish university students from health sciences

Health Psychol Open. 2022 Nov 8;9(2):20551029221135293. doi: 10.1177/20551029221135293. eCollection 2022 Jul-Dec.

Authors

Federica Vallone^{1

2}, Maria Francesca Cattaneo Della Volta^{1

2}, Luis Iván Mayor Silva³, Alfonso Meneses Monroy³, Maura Galletta⁴, Felice Curcio⁵, Maria Clelia Zurlo²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Humanities, University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
² Dynamic Psychology Laboratory, Department of Political Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
³ Departament of Nursing, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, Italy.
⁵ Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Italy.

Abstract

This study aimed to validate the Spanish version of the COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire (CSSQ), a 7-item tool assessing COVID-19-related stressors among university students, namely, Relationships and Academic Life, Isolation, and Fear of Contagion. Participants were 331 Spanish university students. Factor analyses sustained the three factor solution of the original tool. Data also revealed satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity, suitable internal consistency, and significant associations with psychological symptoms, as measured by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. The Spanish version of the CSSQ represents a valid tool to be used in clinical settings to timely identify students at high psychological risk and to develop evidence-based interventions during/after the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Spanish version; quantitative methods; risk factors; scale; stress; students.