CONCURRENT VALIDITY OF THE MALAY VERSION OF PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE (PSS-10)

Objective: This study aimed to assess the concurrent validity of the Malay version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) PSS-10 item. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among all students in a medical faculty in Malaysia. The questionnaire included three parts; socio-demographic correlates, PSS-10 and the validated Malay version of Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 item (DASS-21). Spearman's correlation coefficient was used in the analysis. Results: Stress subscale of DASS -21 correlated positively with the total score of PSS-10 (r= +0.50, p<0.001), positively with the negative subscale of PSS-10 (r= +0.36, p<0.001) and negatively with the positive subscale of PSS-10 (perceived coping) (r= -0.33, p<0.001). Conclusion: The Malay Version of PSS-10 has fair correlation with the stress subscale of DASS-21. This confirmed the concurrent validity of this scale, which further strengthened the previous evidence that the Malay version of PSS-10 was a valid tool to measure stress in Malaysian university students.