Assessment of perceived stress may be an important prerequisite to deployment of effective coping in efforts to help college students adjust to academic and social demands of college. The study examined the extent to which a seven-item measure of the College Student Stress Scale is invariant across gender. Results indicated invariance of factor loadings, factor variance, and all but one item intercept. No statistically significant gender difference was observed between latent variable means.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AsbergK. K.BowersC.RenkK.McKinneyC. (2008) A structural equation modeling approach to the study of stress and psychological adjustment in emerging adults. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 39, 481–501. DOI: 10.1007/s10578–008–0102–0.
2.
BrownT. A. (2006) Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York: Guilford.
3.
ByrneB. M.ShavelsonR. J.MuthénB. (1989) Testing for the equivalence of factor covariance and mean structures: the issue of partial measurement invariance. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 456–466. DOI: 10.1037/0033–2909.105.3.456.
4.
CheungG. W.RensvoldR. B. (2002) Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233–255. DOI: 10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5.
5.
CredéM.NiehorsterS. (2012) Adjustment to college as measured by the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire: a quantitative review of its structure and relationships with correlates and consequences. Educational Psychology Review, 24, 133–165. DOI: 10.1007/s10648–011–9184–5.
6.
DimitrovD. M. (2010) Testing for factorial invariance in the context of construct validation. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 43, 121–149. DOI: 10.1177/0748175610373459.
7.
FeldtR. C. (2008) Development of a brief measure of college stress: the College Student Stress Scale. Psychological Reports, 102, 855–860. DOI: 10.2466/pr0.102.3.855–860.
8.
FeldtR. C.KochC. (2011) Reliability and construct validity of the College Student Stress Scale. Psychological Reports, 108, 660–666. DOI: 10.2466/02.08.13.16.PR0.108.2.660–666.
9.
FinchW. H.FrenchB. F. (2008) Using exploratory factor analysis for locating invariant referents in factor invariance studies. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 7, 223–233. Retrieved at http://www.jmasm.com/.
10.
FrenchB. F.FinchW. (2011) Model misspecification and invariance testing using confirmatory factor analytic procedures. Journal of Experimental Education, 79, 404–428. DOI: 10.1080/00220973.2010.517811.
11.
MessickS. (1995) Validity of psychological assessment: validation of inferences from persons' responses and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning. American Psychologist, 50, 741–749. DOI: 10.1037/0003–066X.50.9.741.
12.
SassD. A. (2011) Testing measurement invariance and comparing latent factor means within a confirmatory factor analysis framework. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 29, 347–363. DOI: 10.1177/0734282911406661.
13.
SegrinC.HanzalA.DonnersteinC.TaylorM.DomschkeT. J. (2007) Social skills, psychological well-being, and the mediating role of perceived stress. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal, 20, 321–329. DOI: 10.1080/10615800701282252.
14.
VerschoorE.MarkusC. (2011) Effects of acute psychosocial stress exposure on endocrine and affective reactivity in college students differing in the 5-HTTLPR genotype and trait neuroticism. Stress: The International Journal on the Biology of Stress, 14, 407–419. DOI: 10.3109/10253890.2010.548886.
15.
WestS. G.TaylorA. B.WuW. (2012) Model fit and model selection in structural equation modeling. In HoyleR. (Ed.), Handbook of structural equation modeling. New York: Guilford. Pp. 209–231.
