Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare Students

Background: Although the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) is widelyused, rigorous assessment of its internal structure among healthcarestudents remains necessary. Objective: To evaluate the psychometricproperties of the PSS in healthcare university students. Method:Two...

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Main Authors: Giordanne Guimarães Freitas, Marcos Pascoal Pattussi, Tonantzin Ribeiro Gonçalves
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad de San Martín de Porres 2025-06-01
Series:Liberabit
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Online Access:https://ojs3.revistaliberabit.com/index.php/Liberabit/article/view/1047/616
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author Giordanne Guimarães Freitas
Marcos Pascoal Pattussi
Tonantzin Ribeiro Gonçalves
author_facet Giordanne Guimarães Freitas
Marcos Pascoal Pattussi
Tonantzin Ribeiro Gonçalves
author_sort Giordanne Guimarães Freitas
collection DOAJ
description Background: Although the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) is widelyused, rigorous assessment of its internal structure among healthcarestudents remains necessary. Objective: To evaluate the psychometricproperties of the PSS in healthcare university students. Method:Two random samples totaling 399 healthcare students completedthe PSS-10. Exploratory factor analysis used WLSMV estimator withoblique rotation. Confirmatory factor analysis employed StructuralEquation Modeling with covariance matrix. Orthogonal bifactoranalysis tested PSS-10 dimensionality. Analyses were conducted forboth total sample and gender-stratified subgroups. Multi-groupconfirmatory factor analysis assessed gender equivalence of factorstructure. Results: Scale items showed satisfactory factor loadings(> .40), good internal consistency (α > .80) and reliability(ω > .84), and acceptable discriminant validity between factors(< .85). Correlations between PSS-10 factors and psychologicaldistress and resilience were of expected magnitude and direction.Confirmatory factor analysis indicated better adjustment parameters(RMSEA = .091; CFI = .977; SRMR = .032) for the two-factorsolution (negative perception and stress coping) for both the totalsample and sex. Conclusions: The two-factor model showed nomeasurement invariance across gender groups. Orthogonal bifactormodels supported PSS-10 unidimensionality. Despite statisticalnuances across factor models, the PSS-10 provides a robust, simple,unidimensional measure of perceived stress among healthcarestudents.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1729-4827
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publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Universidad de San Martín de Porres
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spelling doaj-art-69e22e213f0f4c9f96f31a73cf745a132025-08-20T03:29:48ZengUniversidad de San Martín de PorresLiberabit1729-48272223-76662025-06-01311e104710.24265/liberabit.2025.v31n1.1047Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare StudentsGiordanne Guimarães Freitas0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5970-0800Marcos Pascoal Pattussi1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2947-4229Tonantzin Ribeiro Gonçalves2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0249-3358Universidade de Rio Verde - UniRV, Faculdade de Medicina, Rio Verde, GO, BrasilUniversidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos - Unisinos, Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva, São Leopoldo, RS, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicologia e Saúde, PortoAlegre, RS, BrasilBackground: Although the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) is widelyused, rigorous assessment of its internal structure among healthcarestudents remains necessary. Objective: To evaluate the psychometricproperties of the PSS in healthcare university students. Method:Two random samples totaling 399 healthcare students completedthe PSS-10. Exploratory factor analysis used WLSMV estimator withoblique rotation. Confirmatory factor analysis employed StructuralEquation Modeling with covariance matrix. Orthogonal bifactoranalysis tested PSS-10 dimensionality. Analyses were conducted forboth total sample and gender-stratified subgroups. Multi-groupconfirmatory factor analysis assessed gender equivalence of factorstructure. Results: Scale items showed satisfactory factor loadings(> .40), good internal consistency (α > .80) and reliability(ω > .84), and acceptable discriminant validity between factors(< .85). Correlations between PSS-10 factors and psychologicaldistress and resilience were of expected magnitude and direction.Confirmatory factor analysis indicated better adjustment parameters(RMSEA = .091; CFI = .977; SRMR = .032) for the two-factorsolution (negative perception and stress coping) for both the totalsample and sex. Conclusions: The two-factor model showed nomeasurement invariance across gender groups. Orthogonal bifactormodels supported PSS-10 unidimensionality. Despite statisticalnuances across factor models, the PSS-10 provides a robust, simple,unidimensional measure of perceived stress among healthcarestudents.https://ojs3.revistaliberabit.com/index.php/Liberabit/article/view/1047/616stressuniversity studentstest validitypsychometrics
spellingShingle Giordanne Guimarães Freitas
Marcos Pascoal Pattussi
Tonantzin Ribeiro Gonçalves
Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare Students
Liberabit
stress
university students
test validity
psychometrics
title Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare Students
title_full Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare Students
title_fullStr Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare Students
title_full_unstemmed Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare Students
title_short Factor Structure Analysis of Perceived Stress Scale Among Healthcare Students
title_sort factor structure analysis of perceived stress scale among healthcare students
topic stress
university students
test validity
psychometrics
url https://ojs3.revistaliberabit.com/index.php/Liberabit/article/view/1047/616
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