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MANUAL OF STUDENT STRESS INVENTORY (SSI) Development, Validity And

Reliability of Student Stress Inventory (SSI)

Article · September 2016

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 MANUAL
STUDENT STRESS INVENTORY (SSI)
Development, Validity And Reliability
of Student Stress Inventory (SSI)
By;
Mohammad Aziz Shah Bin Mohamed Arip
Durrah Nadiah Binti Kamaruzaman
Azila Binti Roslan
Aslina Binti Ahmad

Fakulty of Education and Human Development

Sultan Idris Education University
35900 Tanjong Malim Perak

Email: aziz.shah@fppm.upsi.edu.my
HP: +6019-3388799
1.0 Background

The Student Stress Inventory (ISS) was developed to measure the level of stress among
university students. SSI contained of 40 negative items to measure 4 subscales (10 items for each
subscale) which are sub scale 1: Physical (10 items), sub scale 2: Interpersonal relationship (10
items), sub scale 3: Academic (10 items) and subscale 4: Environmental factor (10 items). As for
scoring, the SSI was designed with ordinal scale of the ‘Never’, ‘Somewhat frequent’,
‘Frequent’ and ‘Always’. The value mark given for each choices are 1 for ‘Never’, 2 for
‘Somewhat Frequent’, 3 for ‘Frequent’ and 4 for ‘Always’. The administration process will
approximately take 15 to 20 minutes only. The surrounding of the administration location should
be in the condusive and comfort place. The instrustion given should be clear and precise in order
to make the respondents answer the questions honestly.

2.0 Basic Theoretical

The Student Stress Inventory (SSI) was composed by the researchers in this study based on the
combination of two theories which are The General Adaptation Syndrome and The
Environmental Stress Theory. The fundamentals, principles and main concept of both theories
were used to developed the main concept, scales and subscales of SSI
3.0 Reliability and Validity

To test the validity of the SSI, the authenticity method was carried out by experts. The panel of
nine experts who were assigned to assess the SSI was selected based on their expertise in the
field of education and counseling. There were 5 lectures from UPSI and 4 practitioners who are
counselor and teachers. The validity for all four subscales was also accepted by the experts.
Thus, the SSI content validity was high. The values of Cronbach’s alpha for all the scales in this
inventory were majority of expertise showed acceptable consistency as they were greater than
0.7 (Nunnally, 1978 as cited in Nor Azimah and Saharudin (2011).

Table 1 The validity of the SSI based on Expert Assessment Panel (n=9)

Scale/ Subscale No. of Items Validity Value (%) Expert

Assessment

SSI (as a whole) 40 8.05 (80.5) Accepted

Physical 10 8.07 (80.7) Accepted

InterpersonalRelationship 10 7.89 (78.9) Accepted
Academic 10 8.22 (82.2) Accepted
Environmental 10 8.02(80.2) Accepted
Based on Table 1, the results indicated that the SSI questionnaire had good content validity with
an overall score of 0.805 (80.5%). The validity of the SSI subscales for a) Physical was 0.807
(80.7%); b) Interpersonal Relationship was 0.789 (78.9%); c) Academic was 0.822 (82.2%) and
d) Environmental was 0.802 (80.2%). The panel of nine experts who were assigned to assess the
SSI was selected based on their expertise in the field of education and counseling. There were 5
lectures from UPSI and 4 practitioners who are counselor and teachers. The validity for all four
subscales was also accepted by the experts. Thus, the SSI content validity was high.

Table 2
Reliability of SSI (n=40)

Scale/Subscale No. of items Reliability Value

SSI (as a whole) 40 .857

Physical 10 .680
Interpersonal Relationship 10 .620
Academic 10 .842
Environmental 10 .806

Based on Table 2, the reliability of SSI had a high overall reliability coefficient of .857.
This coefficient value was high since the researchers consider a measure to have adequate inter
item reliability if Cronbach’s alpha coefficient exceeds .70% (Leary, 2010). The reliability of the
subscales of Physical and Interpersonal Relationship of the ISS was at a moderate level which
had a value of .680 and .620 respectively. However, there were high level on both subscales of
Academic ( .842) and Environmental (.806).

In addition to that, Table 3 below indicated the reliability value for each item in SSI to
measure the quality of overall item. As for Item 1-10 measure physical factor, 11-20 measure
interpersonal relationship factor, 21-30 measure academic factor and 31-40 measure
environmental factor. The reliability value showed as follow;
 TABLE 3
Reliability of SSI Item

Bil Item Alpha

Cronbach
1 Headaches .851
2 Back pain .859
3 Sleep problem .855
4 Difficulty breathing .857
5 Excessive worry .855
6 Stomach pain/nausea .854
7 Constant tiredness/fatigue .855
8 Sweating/sweaty hands .853
9 Frequent cold/flu/fever .854
10 Drastic weight loss .855
11 I find difficult to meet my high parent’s expectation .858
12 My parents treat me as a helpless person .860
13 I feel guilty if I fail to fulfill my parent’s hope .853
14 My parents wish only for my success .860
15 I find difficult to get along with groupmates in doing academic task .851
16 My friends did not care about me .857
17 I feel disturbed when having problem with my boyfriend/girlfriend .856
18 My families are not supportive .858
19 My lecturers/ teachers are not supportive .858
20 I feel frustrated by the lack of faculty management .852
21 I have a financial problem because of the expenses of the university .854
22 I find difficult to juggle time between study and social activity .854
23 I feel nervous delivering the class presentation .850
24 I feel stressed as submission deadline neared .852
25 I feel stressed to sit for examination .853
26 I find difficult to juggle time between study and society
involvement .851
27 I loss interest towards courses .857
28 I feel burden of academic workloads .853
29 I feel stressed dealing with difficult subject .850
30 I feel difficult in handling my academic problem .851
31 I have transportation problem .854
32 I feel stressed with bad living condition of hostel .856
33 Surrounding noise distracted me .855
34 Pollution make me uneasy .853
35 Hot weather make me avoid to go out .851
36 Messy living conditions distracted me .850
37 I feel frustrated of inadequate campus facilities .850
38 Crowding make me feel uneasy .853
39 Waited in a long line make me feel uneasy .853
40 I feel scared being at the insecure place .854
 *All negative items

Based on the Table 3, the lowest reliability value was found at .850 on the item 23, item 36, and
item 37 under the subcsale of interpersonal and environmental factor. Meanwhile the highest
reliability value was found at .860 on the item 12 and item 14. Both shares in the same subscales
of interpersonal relationship. The values of Cronbach’s alpha for all the items in this sample
were majority showed acceptable consistency as there were greater than 0.7.

4.0 Administration Process

The respondent was greeted with nice greetings. The demographic information was asked to fill
out first before the administration held. Then, the questionnaire sheet provides the instruction to
make sure the respondent understand the purpose of the administration and if the respondent
consented, the administration continued. The nventory comprised of 40 negative items to
measure 4 subscales (10 items for each subscale) which are sub scale 1: Physical (10 items), sub
scale 2: Interpersonal relationship (10 items), sub scale 3: Academic (10 items) and subscale 4:
Environmental factor (10 items). The administration process will approximately take 15 to 20
minutes only. The surrounding of the administration location should be in the condusive and
comfort place and the respondent should answer the questions honestly. After completing all the
tasks, the researcher thanked the respondents for their participation and co operation

5.0 Scoring

As for scoring, the SSI was designed with ordinal scale of the ‘Never’, ‘Somewhat frequent’,
‘Frequent’ and ‘Always’. The value mark given for each choices are 1 for ‘Never’, 2 for
‘Somewhat Frequent’, 3 for ‘Frequent’ and 4 for ‘Always’. The 40 questions are rated on a 4-
point likert scale.

Scoring Value for Student stress Inventory

_______________________________________________________________
Ordinal Scale Scoring weight
_______________________ __________________________________________
Never 1
Somewhat frequent 2
Frequent 3
Always 4
__________________________________________________________________
6.0 Interpretation

In terms of score analysis and interpretation, SSI suggested those who obtained the score within
122-160 reflects having the severe stress, 81-121 reflects having the moderate stress and those
who obtained score 40-80 reflects having mild stress

Total Score Level of Stress

40-80 Mild Stress
81-121 Moderate Stress
122-160 Severe Stress
 Interpretation Score

STUDENT STRESS INVENTORY

 INTERPRETATION SCORE
STUDENT STRESS INVENTORY

SEVERE MODERATE MILD

SUBSCALE (8-10) (7-4) (3-1)
SCORE
Subskala 1: Severe score Moderate score Mild score
Physical  Having high  Having moderate  Having low
vulnerability of sickness vulnerability of sickness vulnerability of sickness
 Bad physical health  Moderate physical health Optimum physical
health

Subscale 2: Severe score Moderate score Mild score

Interpersonal  Having low social  Having moderate social  Having good social
Relationship connectedness connectedness connectedness
 Worse in getting along  Good in getting along  Better in getting along
with people with people with people

Subscale 3: Severe score Moderate score Mild score

Academic  Low achiever  Average achiever  High achiever
 Low self motivation  Average self motivation  High self motivation
 Lack of time  Average of time  Good in time
management management management

Subscale 4: Severe score Moderate score Mild score

Environment  Lack of adjusting social  Good in adjusting social  Better oin adjusting
environment environment social environment
 High in level of  Medium in level of  Low in the level of
resiliency resiliency resiliency
 TOTAL SCORE INTERPRETATION
STUDENT STRESS INVENTORY
MILD STRESS SCORE
(40-80)
Having a good of coping skills when
feel stressed or feel that things are
out of control. Having a positive
attitude and high self afficacy.
Having a good relationship with
people and able to adapt in new
environment
Precaution step :
Keep up the good attitude. Continue
the best way in handling stress.
Always look after of yourself. Stay fit
and healthy
MODERATE STRESS
SCORE
(81-121)
Having a moderate of coping
skills when feel stressed or
feel that things are out of
control. Having a moderate
attitude and high self
afficacy. Having an average
relationship with people and
partially able to adapt in new
environment
Precaution step :
Avoid future life crises.
Minimize conflict with other
people, avoid taking on new
obligations or engaging with
new program of study. Take
things easy and look after
yourself. Speak up, learn
stress management
techniques.
SEVERE STRESS
SCORE
(122-160)
Having a bad of coping
skills when feel stressed or
feel that things are out of
control. Having a bad
attitude and high self
afficacy. Having trouble in
relationship with people
and not able to adapt in
new environment.
Could cause severe health
problem
Precaution step :
Avoid future life crises.
Minimize conflict with
other people, avoid taking
on new obligations or
engaging with new
program of study. Take
things easy and look after
yourself. Learn stress
management techniques.
Ask for help, seek the
counsellor
 ATTACHMENT
STUDENT STRESS
INVENTORY
 Student stress inventory (SSI)
By;
Mohammad Aziz Shah Bin Mohamed Arip
Durrah Nadiah Binti Kamaruzaman
Azila Binti Roslan
Aslina Binti Ahmad

Fakulty of Education and Human Development

Sultan Idris Education University
35900 Tanjong Malim Perak

Email: aziz.shah@fppm.upsi.edu.my
HP: +6019-3388799

......................................................................................
 STUDENT STRESS INVENTORY (SSI)

Directions: This inventory measures the stresses you have experienced in your study and
everyday life in your campus. There are no right and wrong answers. Read each statement and
circle the best describes your experiences.

1= Never (N)
2= Somewhat frequent (S)
3=Frequent (F)
4=Always (A)

Below is a list of the ways you may have felt or behaved over this semester. Please circle one
answer in each box:

Subscale 1: Physical

No Item N SF F A

1 Headaches 1 2 3 4
2 Back pain 1 2 3 4
3 Sleep problem 1 2 3 4
4 Difficulty breathing 1 2 3 4
5 Excessive worry 1 2 3 4
6 Stomach pain/nausea 1 2 3 4
7 Constant tiredness/fatigue 1 2 3 4
8 Sweating/sweaty hands 1 2 3 4
9 Frequent cold/flu/fever 1 2 3 4
10 Drastic weight loss 1 2 3 4

Subscale 2: Interpersonal Relationship

No Item N SF F A

11 I find difficult to meet my high parent’s 1 2 3 4

expectation
12 My parents treat me as a helpless person 1 2 3 4
13 I feel guilty if I fail to fulfill my parent’s hope 1 2 3 4
14 My parents wish only for my success 1 2 3 4
15 I find difficult to get along with groupmates in 1 2 3 4
doing academic task
16 My friends did not care about me 1 2 3 4
17 I feel disturbed when having problem with my 1 2 3 4
boyfriend/girlfriend
18 My families are not supportive 1 2 3 4
19 My lecturers/ teachers are not supportive 1 2 3 4
 20 I feel frustrated by the lack of faculty 1 2 3 4
management

Subscale 3: Academic

No Item N SF F A

21 I have a financial problem because of the 1 2 3 4

expenses of the university
22 I find difficult to juggle time between study and 1 2 3 4
social activity
23 I feel nervous delivering the class presentation 1 2 3 4
24 I feel stressed as submission deadline neared 1 2 3 4
25 I feel stressed to sit for examination 1 2 3 4
26 I find difficult to juggle time between study and 1 2 3 4
society involvement
27 I loss interest towards courses 1 2 3 4
28 I feel burden of academic workloads 1 2 3 4
29 I feel stressed dealing with difficult subject 1 2 3 4
30 I feel difficult in handling my academic problem 1 2 3 4

Subscale 4: Environmental

No Item N SF F A

31 I have transportation problem 1 2 3 4

32 I feel stressed with bad living condition of hostel 1 2 3 4
33 Surrounding noise distracted me 1 2 3 4
34 Pollution make me uneasy 1 2 3 4
35 Hot weather make me avoid to go out 1 2 3 4
36 Messy living conditions distracted me 1 2 3 4
37 I feel frustrated of inadequate campus facilities 1 2 3 4
38 Crowding make me feel uneasy 1 2 3 4
39 Waited in a long line make me feel uneasy 1 2 3 4
40 I feel scared being at the insecure place 1 2 3 4

Thank You

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