The development of a stress measure, and indications of its reliability and validity are reported in the present article. The human stress response and its deleterious consequences are discussed, including the fact that stress is a major problem in society at all levels of human interaction. South African stress levels are particularly high, and many lifestyle diseases, health-risk behaviours, suicidal behaviours, violence, trauma-producing behaviours, performance levels and difficulties in coping with change are stress-related, as are numerous medical, psychological and/or psychiatric disorders. Given this, a Stress Symptom Checklist (SSCL) was constructed as a user-friendly stress measurement. It was developed as part of a major stress research initiative. The aim was to produce an authoritative, reliable and valid stress checklist that can stand up to critical inspection, yet be an easy-to-use measure. It focuses on the respondent's stress level rather than on the stimuli leading to that stress. It is not intended to be a diagnostic tool that measures specific stress-related psychopathological conditions or disorders, but rather the intensity (or severity) of stress as reflected by an individual's physical, psychological and behavioural reactions. To date, the data show that the SSCL is a useful measure of non-pathological stress in the general population. Further refinements and validation studies are in progress.
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