Revised Subjective Stress Scale

Abstract

The Revised Subjective Stress Scale (RSSS) is a 14-item psychological instrument developed by Berkun, Bialek, Kern, and Yagi in 1962. It represents a critical modification of the original Subjective Stress Scale (SSS), which was initially created by Kerle and Bialek in 1958. The scale utilizes a Thurstone equal-appearing-interval scale methodology, originally featuring 15 descriptive words categorized into 11 intervals derived from Army population samples.

The primary modifications in the 1962 revision involved addressing issues where certain original terms elicited responses related to physical distress (e.g., headache, insomnia) rather than purely psychological state. Specifically, the word “Terrible” was replaced with “Panicky,” and “In Agony” was entirely removed, resulting in the final 14-item version. The RSSS is designed to measure immediate, subjective stress levels by asking individuals to select the single descriptive term that best reflects their feelings under specific environmental or experimental conditions. This instrument is valued for its direct measurement approach, eliminating the need for alternate forms or requiring subjects to project the feelings of others.

Keywords

Revised Subjective Stress Scale, Subjective Stress, Psychological Stress, Test Development, Thurstone Scale, Emotional Responses, Trauma, Stress and Coping, Positive vs. Negative Affect, Military Psychology.

Authors

Mitchell M. Berkun, Hilton M. Bialek, Richard P. Kern, Kan Yagi

Purpose

The central purpose of the Revised Subjective Stress Scale is to objectively evaluate subjective levels of stress experienced by an individual. It achieves this by utilizing a standardized set of descriptive terms that allow the respondent to quickly and accurately reflect their immediate emotional state in response to a specific situation or environmental event.

The scale was developed within a military research context to provide a reliable measure of internal feeling states during potentially high-stress experimental conditions, such as those encountered by military aircraft passengers. Its design emphasizes simplicity and speed of administration, focusing strictly on the individual’s self-reported feeling rather than observational data or physiological markers.

Construct

The scale measures Psychological Stress, defined as the individual’s subjective emotional and cognitive response to demanding or adverse environmental conditions. Unlike scales that measure chronic stress or generalized anxiety, the RSSS is targeted at the immediate, acute feeling state corresponding to a defined situational context.

The instrument’s reliance on descriptive adjectives ranging from highly positive (“Wonderful”) to extremely negative (“Scared stiff”) captures the full spectrum of affective intensity associated with the stress construct. The underlying theoretical framework is based on the assumption that subjective feelings can be reliably scaled and quantified using the Rating Scale methodology established by Thurstone.

Validity

Information regarding the specific validity of the Revised Subjective Stress Scale (1962) is not explicitly detailed in the primary reference documentation. The original development relied on the underlying psychometric rigor of the Thurstone equal-appearing-interval scale construction method used for the initial SSS (Kerle and Bialek, 1958).

The authors’ decision to revise the scale was based on empirical observation of response patterns, where certain items were found to compromise construct validity by eliciting physical symptoms rather than pure psychological distress. However, formal reported data such as criterion validity or construct validity coefficients for the final 14-item RSSS are not readily available in the initial publication.

Reliability

Specific quantitative data concerning the reliability (e.g., internal consistency, test-retest reliability) of the Revised Subjective Stress Scale is not provided or indicated in the source material from Berkun et al. (1962). The scale’s frequent use and validation were based on repeated application in military experimental settings, where consistency of response across controlled conditions served as an operational measure of utility, though formal reliability coefficients were not published.

Factor Analysis

Formal factor analysis was not indicated or reported in the primary documentation detailing the development and use of the Revised Subjective Stress Scale. Given its foundation in the Thurstone scaling technique, which focuses on assigning scale values to items based on expert judgment or population sorting, traditional psychometric factor analysis was not a necessary component of its initial construction or validation process.

Instrument

Test Type: Rating Scale

Format: Checklist format

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older)

Population Details: Sample primarily included military aircraft passengers subjected to controlled experimental stress conditions.

Test Methodology: The scale utilizes a checklist format where respondents are presented with 14 descriptive words, typically in a scrambled order, and instructed to select the single word that best describes their current feeling or feeling under the specified circumstances. The scoring relies on the pre-established scale values assigned to each word based on the original Thurstone equal-appearing-interval scale construction.

Keywords

Emotional Responses, Subjective Stress Scale, Test Construction, Psychological Measurement, Military Research, Affective States, Panicky, Scared Stiff.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not available

Affiliation Email addresses: Not available

Correspondence Address: Presidio of Monterey, United States Army Leadership Human Research Unit (Affiliation at time of publication)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Revised Subjective Stress Scale was developed and published in 1962 within the context of U.S. Army research. Information regarding current intellectual property permissions or associated fees for academic or clinical use is not provided in the original publication. Given its age and governmental origin, the scale is often considered available for research purposes, though citation of the original work is mandatory. Test items are available in the public domain via the listed academic reference.

Reference’s

• Berkun, M. M., Bialek, H. M., Kern, R. P., & Yagi, K. (1962). Experimental studies of psychological stress in man. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 76(15), 1–39. The digital object identifier (DOI) for this publication is: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093835
• Kerle, R. H., & Bialek, H. M. (1958). The construction, validation, and application of a Subjective Stress Scale. U.S. Army Leadership Human Research Unit Technical Report, TR 58-7.

Items of the Revised Subjective Stress Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way. These 14 items constitute the revised version used for measurement, replacing “Terrible” and deleting “In Agony” from the original 15-item list.

• Wonderful
• Fine
• Comfortable
• Steady
• Didn’t bother me
• Indifferent
• Timid
• Unsteady
• Nervous
• Worried
• Unsafe
• Frightened
• Panicky
• Scared stiff