Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)
A 10-item self-report of the degree to which situations in one's life over the past month are appraised as stressful. Items 4, 5, 7, and 8 are positively stated and reverse-scored. Higher totals indicate greater perceived stress. Administer under clinician oversight.
This is a clinical instrument. It is not publicly self-administered — a clinician assigns it through a secure patient link.
At a glance
What it measures
The Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) measures the degree to which situations in one's life over the past month are appraised as stressful — unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloading — rather than counting stressors themselves. Items 4, 5, 7, and 8 are positively stated and reverse-scored.
On this platform the total is norm-referenced against the published community sample (N = 2,387) to yield the percentile shown with the result. The PSS is a perception measure, not a clinical screen: the source did not validate clinical severity bands, so no diagnostic threshold or severity band is shown.
Psychometric properties
The notes below are reproduced from the platform's psychometrics register for this instrument — the same source-cited reliability, validity, and norms text that accompanies its downloadable report.
Good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha typically 0.78-0.91) and acceptable test-retest reliability (Cohen et al., 1983; Lee, 2012).
A two-factor structure (perceived helplessness and self-efficacy) has been replicated widely, and scores correlate with depression, anxiety, and health outcomes (Lee, 2012).
US normative data are reported by Cohen & Williamson (1988); higher scores indicate greater perceived stress (bands 0-13, 14-26, 27-40).
Example item
“In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?”
Illustrative only. During administration items are presented one screen-set at a time; response-key direction is never shown to respondents.
Scoring & interpretation
Item responses are summed within each scale (reverse-keyed items recoded first) and expressed as a population percentile against the cited reference sample, with a reliability-based confidence range where α is published.
Psychometrics & norms
| Scale | M | SD | N | α | Metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perceived stress | 13.02 | 6.35 | 2387 | 0.78 | summed raw |
Cohen, S., & Williamson, G. M. (1988). Perceived stress in a probability sample of the United States. In S. Spacapan & S. Oskamp (Eds.), The social psychology of health — PSS-10 summed-score statistics from the 1983 Harris Poll U.S. national probability sample (N = 2,387; M = 13.02, SD = 6.35; Cronbach’s α = .78). This is a community general-population reference, not a clinical norm, and the source does not define low/moderate/high severity cutoffs.
Source & citation
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396.
Scoring. Reverse-score items 4, 5, 7, and 8, then sum all items (0–40). Cohen & Williamson (1988) reported U.S. probability-sample descriptive statistics but did not validate low/moderate/high severity bands; this implementation therefore reports descriptive population standing without clinical cutoffs.
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) © Sheldon Cohen. Free for academic and non-profit research use; a commercial-use grey area applies — do not imply commercial clearance.
References
- Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385-396.
- Cohen, S., & Williamson, G. (1988). Perceived stress in a probability sample of the United States. In S. Spacapan & S. Oskamp (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Health (pp. 31-67). Sage.
- Lee, E.-H. (2012). Review of the psychometric evidence of the Perceived Stress Scale. Asian Nursing Research, 6(4), 121-127.