Development and psychometric evaluation of College Students' Employment Stress Scale based on five-dimensional...

This study aims to develop a standardized scale for measuring contemporary college students' employment stress and to evaluate its psychometric properties.

Through literature review, open-ended questionnaires (n = 30), and in-depth interviews (n = 15), an initial item pool of 31 items was constructed. Using stratified sampling, undergraduate students from Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (ZUST) were recruited for preliminary testing (113 valid samples) and formal testing (234 valid samples). SPSS 28.0 was employed for item analysis and exploratory factor analysis, while AMOS 21.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis.

The final scale comprised 23 items across five dimensions: Personal Qualities, Family Support, Job Market & Major Utility, Institutional Resources, and Regional Factors, together explaining 64.46% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated marginal model fit (χ ²/df = 3.942, RMSEA = 0.113, CFI = 0.79), suggesting that the hypothesized five-factor structure requires further refinement. Preliminary evidence of criterion-related validity was obtained through a weak but statistically significant correlation with the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (r = 0.151, p < 0.05).

The scale demonstrates acceptable internal consistency at the full-scale level; however, its structural validity remains marginal and the Institutional Resources subscale is psychometrically inadequate in its current form. The scale should be regarded as a preliminary research instrument requiring further validation in larger, multi-institution samples before widespread application.