Cognitive Slips-Failures and Daily Stress: Further Investigations with the Short Stress State Questionnaire - Daily (SSSQ-D)

Abstract

This article presents a study providing further psychometric and validation evidence of a short multidimensional self-report measure of daily stress state, the Short Stress State Questionnaire - Daily (SSSQ-D; Helton, Fields, & Thoreson, 2005). Forty-three participants filled out the SSSQ-D twice daily for approximately 23 days, once in the morning and once at night. They also reported daily cognitive slips-failures. Chain-P Factor Analyses of the individual items for both pre- and post-assessments were conducted and the relationships between the SSSQ-D factors and daily self-reported cognitive slips-failures were examined both within and between participants. The factor analyses, as previously indicated by Helton, Fields, and Thoreson (2005), differentiated three aspects of subjective stress: Task Engagement, Distress, and Worry. Daily Distress and Worry correlated moderately with cognitive slips, both within and between individuals. The 24-item SSSQ-D appears to be a reliable measure of daily stress state, potentially useful in naturalistic studies.