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Perceived Stress Scale

For each question choose from the following alternatives: 
0 - never 1 - almost never 2 - sometimes 3 - fairly often 4 - very often

________ l.   In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that    happened unexpectedly?

________ 2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?

________ 3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and stressed?

________ 4. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?

________ 5. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?

________ 6. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?

________ 7. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life?

________ 8. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?

________ 9. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that happened that were outside of your control?

________ 10. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?

Figuring Your PSS Score
You can determine your PSS score by following these directions:
	•	First, reverse your scores for questions 4, 5, 7, and 8. On these 4 questions, change the scores like this:
 		0 = 4, 1 = 3, 2 = 2, 3 = 1, 4 = 0.

	•	Now add up your scores for each item to get a total. My total score is ___________.

	•	Individual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.
►Scores ranging from 0-13 would be considered low stress.
►Scores ranging from 14-26 would be considered moderate stress.
►Scores ranging from 27-40 would be considered high perceived stress.

Source: Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., and Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 386-396.