The Chinese Version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire-13: Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance for Medical Students
Chen Jiang, Stefanos Mastrotheodoros, Yihong Zhu, You Yang, Souheil Hallit, Bing Zhao, Yuping Fan, Mengyi Huang, Cen Chen, Haiyan Ma, Runtang Meng
Abstract
Purpose: Stress may relate to an increased risk of psychological and physical disorders. Thus, a brief and efficient measurement instrument for researchers to measure stress is essentially needed. Participants and Methods: To assess measurement properties of the validated Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire-13 (PSQ-C-13), we conducted a two-wave longitudinal study from September to December, 2021 with a convenient sample of medical students. Results: A two-factor (constraint and imbalance) structure showed good fit indices (Comparative Fit Index [CFI] = 0.972, Tucker-Lewis Index [TLI] = 0.966, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] = 0.062). Spearman correlations with the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale-10 illustrated that convergent validity of the PSQ-C-13 was relatively satisfactory ( r = 0.678 [baseline], 0.753 [follow-up]). Measurement invariance was supported across subgroups (gender, age, home location, single-child status, monthly households’ income, and part-time status) and time points. Internal consistency was sound (Cronbach’s α = 0.908 [baseline], 0.922 [follow-up]; McDonald’s ω = 0.909 [baseline], 0.923 [follow-up]). Stability between time points was good (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient = 0.834). Conclusion: The two factors of the PSQ-C-13 including constraint and imbalance may adequately measure the level of stress on participants. The PSQ-C-13 is a convenient and efficient instrument that contains valid and reliable psychometric properties. Keywords: Perceived Stress Questionnaire, longitudinal survey, medical students, psychometrics