Psychometric evaluation of perceived stress scale for Turkish university students

The purpose of the study was to investigate the applicability of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to a Turkish sample. PSS (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) is a general appraisal instrument that measures the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. Five hundred and eight freshman students at the Middle East Technical University at the age of 16–29 filled in the Turkish translation of the PSS. The alpha coefficient for the Turkish version of PSS was found as 0.84, and PSS correlated 0.61 with the General Health Questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the PSS showed that the scale consisted of two factors: Perceived Helplessness factor and Perceived Self‐efficacy. In general, the data indicated that the PSS provides a reliable and valid measure of perceived stress for a Turkish sample. The findings provide useful information for researchers and practitioners wishing to adapt foreign psychological tests to different cultures, especially in relation to the assessment of university students. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.