PerceivedStressScale
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a widely used psychological inventory designed to measure the perception of stress in an individual's life. Developed by psychologist Sheldon Cohen and colleagues in 1983, the scale assesses how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded respondents find their lives. The PSS is structured to evaluate the degree to which situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful, rather than focusing on objective stressors or the individual’s emotional reactions to stress.
The original PSS consists of 14 items, each scored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 0
The PSS is available in multiple versions, including the PSS-10, a shorter 10-item version developed later to
Critics note that the PSS measures subjective stress perception rather than objective stress exposure, which may