A Measure of Stress and Arousal: Factor Structure of the Stress Adjective Checklist

A 20-item Stress Adjective Checklist (MacKay et al., 1978) was administered to 565 Canadian undergraduate psychology students and factor analyzed. A 4-factor solution was discarded as it could not be replicated. Both the 3-factor and 2-factor solutions were replicable and interpretable. The 3-factor solution comprised one bipolar and two correlated, monopolar factors, whereas the 2-factor solution contained two uncorrelated, bipolar factors. The 2-factor solution (stress and arousal) was chosen because it was felt that two factors better represented the affect domain and that the 3-factor solution (containing monopolar factors) may be an artifact of the methodology, that is, response scale asymmetry, scale imbalance and social desirability. The 2-factor solution was very similar to that found in British and Australian samples (King et al., 1983; MacKay et al., 1978) and supports the view of Russell (1979, 1980) that affect space is bipolar. Results are contrary to the view of Nowlis (1965) and Thayer (1967) and others, who argue in favor of monopolar factors. Suggestions for further research and refinement of the scale are made.