[Measurement of unemployment-related psychological stress: Validation of the Unemployment Stress (USS)].
BACKGROUND
Nowadays the theme of unemployment and the given answers of it are up to date questions in psychology. In spite of this fact, the psychological methods measuring this phenomenon are often missing. That is why the Unemployment Stress Scale (USS) is presented in this article.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of our study is to develop a scale called USS and test it's validity and reliability.


METHODS
There were 287 adult unemployed persons asked in this study. Besides the USS we used the Beck Depression Scale, the Spielberger Anxiety Scale (TRAIT), the Sense of Coherence Scale (Hungarian version) and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale.


RESULTS
According to our results, USS has showed an excellent criterion and construct validity. A useful scale has been formed according to test-retest results. (Cronbach-alfa: 0.88 and 0.86 according to the samples). Moreover our scale has a strong correlation with the Spielberger Anxiety Scale (TRAIT) and the Beck Depression Scale. These chracteristics of the new scale proved that we fond a factor, independent from the self esteem and the sense of coherence, which represents the stress level in the situation of unemployment.


CONCLUSIONS
This scale is a professional construction to measure stress contributed to unemployment. The USS can be a useful scale in clinical practice because after measuring with this scale we can protect the personality of the unemployed by representing the actual unemployment stress level. That is why professionals can help earlier in a crisis like this.
Veszprem Megyei Rendor-fokapitanysag, Veszprem, Hungary, E-mail: kapuvirag@gmail.com.
Virág
V
Szabóné Kapuvári
Tamás
T
Martos
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013997:Time Factors; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data