THE CONSTRUCTION, VALIDATION AND APPLICATION OF A SUBJECTIVE STRESS SCALE

Abstract

In order to obtain a statistically manipulable measure of a subject's affective reaction under field experimental conditions, a scale was constructed based on the Thurstone scaling technique commonly applied to attitudinal measurement. Items were scaled along a dimension of affect which ranged equidistantly in both positive and negative directions from a literal indifferent point. Reliability was obtained by use of alternate forms. Efforts were made to utilize both contrived and natural situations in order to test application of the scale. Four such situations were utilized for validation and reliability purposes. The scale detected significant affective changes in those situations which were judged stressful by the experimenters but independent assessment of the situations is still lacking. The rapidity and ease of administration in addition to the interpretative possibilities encourage further applications of the scale.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 21, 1958
Accession Number
AD0489875

Entities

People

  • Hilton M. Bialek
  • Robert H. Kerle

Organizations

  • George Washington University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army
  • Bridges
  • Construction
  • Crossings
  • Data Science
  • Department Of Defense
  • Experimental Design
  • Fire Fighting
  • Fires
  • High Pressure
  • Information Science
  • Instructors
  • Intervals
  • Measurement
  • Measuring Instruments
  • Schools
  • Statistical Analysis

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.
  • Systems Analysis and Design