PSS

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4)

Measuring: Assess the degree of stress people felt in unpredictable, out-of-control, and overloaded situations.

Number of Items: 4

Item	Question Wording	TILDA Variable
1	In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?	SCQPSS1
2	In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?	SCQPSS2
3	In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?	SCQPSS3
4	In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?	SCQPSS4

Scoring Method:

5-point Likert scale.

0 = Hardly ever

1 = Almost never

2 = Sometimes

3 = Fairly often

4 = Very often

Item 2 and item 3 are reverse coded.
A cumulative score is generated with higher scores representing greater perceived stress (0-16).

Citation: Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.

Example TILDA Papers:

McGarrigle, C. A., Ward, M., De Looze, C., O'Halloran, A., & Kenny, R. A. (2022). Caring in the time of COVID-19, longitudinal trends in well-being and mental health in carers in Ireland: Evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).Â Archives of gerontology and geriatrics,Â 102, 104719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2022.104719

Code

recode SCQPSS1 (-845/-99=.) (1=0) (2=1) (3=2) (4=3) (5=4), gen (PSS1)
recode SCQPSS2 (-845/-99=.) (1=4) (2=3) (3=2) (4=1) (5=0), gen (PSS2)
recode SCQPSS3 (-845/-99=.) (1=4) (2=3) (3=2) (4=1) (5=0), gen (PSS3)
recode SCQPSS4 (-845/-99=.) (1=0) (2=1) (3=2) (4=3) (5=4), gen (PSS4)

gen PSSscore = PSS1+PSS2+PSS3+PSS4

drop PSS1 PSS2 PSS3 PSS4

label variable PSSscore "Perceived Stress Scale (0-16)"
notes PSSscore : 4-item Perceived Stress Scale from Self-completion questionnaire, scores range ///
from 0 to 16, higher score indicates greater stress

Download Stata .do file

recode_pss <- function(x, mapping) {
  out <- rep(NA_real_, length(x))
  # Stata recodes -845 through -99 inclusive to missing.
  out[!is.na(x) & x >= -845 & x <= -99] <- NA_real_
  for (i in seq_along(mapping)) {
    out[!is.na(x) & x == i] <- mapping[i]
  }
  out
}

data$PSS1 <- recode_pss(data$SCQPSS1, c(0,1,2,3,4))
data$PSS2 <- recode_pss(data$SCQPSS2, c(4,3,2,1,0))
data$PSS3 <- recode_pss(data$SCQPSS3, c(4,3,2,1,0))
data$PSS4 <- recode_pss(data$SCQPSS4, c(0,1,2,3,4))

# Ordinary addition: any missing component gives a missing total.
data$PSSscore <- data$PSS1 + data$PSS2 + data$PSS3 + data$PSS4

data[c("PSS1","PSS2","PSS3","PSS4")] <- NULL

attr(data$PSSscore, "label") <- "Perceived Stress Scale (0-16)"
attr(data$PSSscore, "note") <- paste(
  "4-item Perceived Stress Scale from Self-completion questionnaire,",
  "scores range from 0 to 16, higher score indicates greater stress"
)

Download R file

RECODE SCQPSS1
  (-845 THRU -99=SYSMIS)
  (1=0) (2=1) (3=2) (4=3) (5=4)
  INTO PSS1.

RECODE SCQPSS2
  (-845 THRU -99=SYSMIS)
  (1=4) (2=3) (3=2) (4=1) (5=0)
  INTO PSS2.

RECODE SCQPSS3
  (-845 THRU -99=SYSMIS)
  (1=4) (2=3) (3=2) (4=1) (5=0)
  INTO PSS3.

RECODE SCQPSS4
  (-845 THRU -99=SYSMIS)
  (1=0) (2=1) (3=2) (4=3) (5=4)
  INTO PSS4.

COMPUTE PSSscore = PSS1 + PSS2 + PSS3 + PSS4.

DELETE VARIABLES PSS1 PSS2 PSS3 PSS4.

VARIABLE LABELS PSSscore "Perceived Stress Scale (0-16)".
* Note: 4-item PSS from Self-completion questionnaire; scores range 0-16;
* higher score indicates greater stress.

EXECUTE.

Download SPSS .sps file