Gender Invariance of the College Student Stress Scale

Assessment of perceived stress may be an important prerequisite to deployment of effective coping in efforts to help college students adjust to academic and social demands of college. The study examined the extent to which a seven-item measure of the College Student Stress Scale is invariant across gender. Results indicated invariance of factor loadings, factor variance, and all but one item intercept. No statistically significant gender difference was observed between latent variable means.

Reliability and Construct Validity of the College Student Stress Scale

Reliability and construct validity of the 11-item College Student Stress Scale were investigated with exploratory ( N = 273) and confirmatory factor analyses ( N = 185) in undergraduate college students. Two factors were observed; however, reliability of the 3-item factor was too low and one item failed to load on either factor. A 7-item measure (Factor 1) had acceptable reliability (.81) and good convergence with the Perceived Stress Scale. This measure was significantly correlated with Neuroticism, Test Anxiety, and Self-efficacy for Learning, but not Social Desirability or age.