Perceived Stress Scale

The PSS-10 (Perceived Stress Scale, Cohen et al.) measures how unpredictable, uncontrollable and overloaded your life has felt — your subjective sense of stress rather than objective events. Answer for the last month.

The PSS was published by Sheldon Cohen and colleagues in 1983; the 10-item form (PSS-10) is the most used version. It captures two core dimensions: feeling that life is out of control, and feeling that demands exceed your ability to cope.

Items 4, 5, 7 and 8 are positively worded and reverse-scored; all ten are then summed for a total of 0-40. Higher scores mean greater perceived stress. The 0-13 / 14-26 / 27-40 ranges shown are descriptive reference bands, not diagnostic cutoffs.

PSS scores correlate with depression, anxiety, sleep quality and even susceptibility to the common cold — perceived stress is a psychological state with real consequences, not just overthinking.

Source: Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983) · Long distributed by the authors and Carnegie Mellon for research and educational use; Chinese items are our careful translation of the standard wording. · Original source

In the last month, how often have you felt or thought the following?

1. Been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly
2. Felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life
3. Felt nervous and stressed
4. Felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems
5. Felt that things were going your way
6. Found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do
7. Been able to control irritations in your life
8. Felt that you were on top of things
9. Been angered because of things that happened that were outside of your control
10. Felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them