Faculty Collaboration Database

Measuring Cumulative Stressfulness: Psychometric Properties of the COVID-19 Stressors Scale. Health Educ Behav 2021 Feb;48(1):20-28

Date

12/15/2020

Pubmed ID

33307818

DOI

10.1177/1090198120979912

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85097507625 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   35 Citations

Abstract

Scales assessing stressor exposure often fail to demonstrate adequate psychometric qualities, demonstrating low interitem reliability or complex factor structures, as would be expected, given that the majority of stressors are independent events. However, in large-scale mass crisis events, the stressors may be highly interrelated, indicating shared experience. Furthermore, few stressor exposure scales also measure appraised stressfulness of those stressors. Development of a psychometrically sound measure of both stressor exposure and appraisal advances the study of highly stressful events such as community-wide crises, especially in providing a useful measure of its cumulative stressfulness. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an enduring, worldwide stressor with an indefinite timeline. The COVID-19 Stressor Scale is a 23-item measure of stressor exposure and appraisal related to the pandemic developed within the first weeks of widespread shelter-in-place practices in the Unites States. We present initial psychometric results of the COVID-19 Stressor Scale. Results of a principal components analysis indicate that the measure is unidimensional and has strong internal consistency. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated. The COVID-19 Stressor Scale is a useful measure for studying the ongoing stressors associated with the pandemic and presents a model for measuring other massive, ongoing crises.

Author List

Tambling RR, Russell BS, Park CL, Fendrich M, Hutchinson M, Horton AL, Tomkunas AJ

Author

Michael Fendrich PhD Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Anxiety Disorders
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Perception
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Socioeconomic Factors
Stress, Psychological
Surveys and Questionnaires
United States
Young Adult