The Short Stress State Questionnaire and High Event Rate Target Detection

Abstract

Stress is an important aspect of operational settings. This article presents the results of a study providing further validation of a short multidimensional self-report measure of stress-state, the Short Stress State Questionnaire (SSSQ; Helton, 2004). We investigated stress during high event rate target detection tasks. In previous target detection studies using the established Dundee Stress State Questionnaire two phenomena have been consistently reported: (1) an increase in Distress over the task and (2) the highest post-task state correlate with target detection performance is Engagement. In the present experiment in which 40 participants performed high event rate target detection tasks, both phenomena were replicated with the SSSQ. The 24-item SSSQ appears to be a useful measure of stress-state applicable in a wide variety of settings of interest to Human Factors practitioners.