Angel Mae Manlangit BSP3
Perceived Stress Scale
A more precise measure of personal stress can be determined by using a variety of instruments
that have been designed to help measure individual stress levels. The first of these is called the
Perceived Stress Scale.
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a classic stress assessment instrument. The tool, while
originally developed in 1983, remains a popular choice for helping us understand how different
situations affect our feelings and our perceived stress. The questions in this scale ask about
your feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, you will be asked to indicate
how often you felt or thought a certain way. Although some of the questions are similar, there
are differences between them and you should treat each one as a separate question. The best
approach is to answer fairly quickly. That is, don’t try to count up the number of times you felt a
particular way; rather indicate the alternative that seems like a reasonable estimate.
For each question choose from the following alternatives:
0 – never 1 – almost never 2 – sometimes 3 – fairly often 4 – very often
___2_____ l. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that
happened unexpectedly?
____3____ 2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the
important things in your life?
____3____ 3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and stressed?
____2____ 4. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to
handle your personal problems?
____2____ 5. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?
____2____ 6. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all
the things that you had to do?
____2____ 7. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your
life?
____3____ 8. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?
____2____ 9. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that
happened that were outside of your control?
____2____ 10. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high
that you could not overcome them?
Scoring and Interpretation
You can determine your PSS score by following these directions:
• First, reverse your scores for questions 4, 5, 7, and 8. On these 4 questions, change the
scores like this:
0 = 4, 1 = 3, 2 = 2, 3 = 1, 4 = 0.
• Now add up your scores for each item to get a total. My total score is ___23_____.
• Individual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher
perceived stress.
► Scores ranging from 0-13 would be considered low stress.
► Scores ranging from 14-26 would be considered moderate stress.
► Scores ranging from 27-40 would be considered high perceived stress.
The subject’s score is 23 therefore the subject is considered to be in moderate stress
