An Arabic version of the perceived stress scale: translation and validation study

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment
• Cross-cultural psychology
• Health psychology

Background:

• The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a widely used instrument to measure the degree to which life situations are perceived as stressful.
• Adaptation of psychological measures for different linguistic and cultural contexts is crucial for their global applicability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an Arabic version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).
• To ensure the translated scale maintains psychometric properties comparable to the original English version.

Main Methods:

• A rigorous translation process incorporating cross-cultural considerations was used to create the Arabic PSS.
• The study involved 126 Jordanian volunteers (74 male, 52 female) who completed the Arabic PSS twice.
• Psychometric evaluation included reliability (Cronbach's alpha, test-retest) and validity assessments using exploratory factor analysis.

Main Results:

• Exploratory factor analysis identified two factors explaining 45.0% of the variance.
• Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.74 (Factor 1), 0.77 (Factor 2), and 0.80 overall, indicating good internal consistency.
• Test-retest reliability was high, with an intra-correlation coefficient of 0.90, suggesting stability over time.

Conclusions:

• The Arabic version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) exhibits adequate reliability and validity.
• The findings support the use of the Arabic PSS as a suitable instrument for assessing perceived stress among Arabic-speaking individuals.