title: Perceived stress in survivors of suicide: psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of three versions of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; American Sociological Association) in adults who had survived the death of a family member or significant other by suicide. Reliability and validity were examined. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to assess dimensionality of the underlying constructs. All three versions of the PSS demonstrated acceptable reliability. Two shorter versions retained good psychometric properties and demonstrated convergent and concurrent validity with measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms and mental health quality of life. Factor analysis provided further evidence of their usefulness as brief and valid measures of perceived stress in acutely bereaved adult survivors of suicide. In a sub-sample of closely related survivors, the psychometric properties of the 4-item version of the PSS were retained.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Community Systems, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and School of Medicine, 3500 Victoria Street, 415 Victoria Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Crane
authors.forename: Yookyung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*