Stress, health and performance in university students.

Abstract

The hypothesis tested was that cognitive factors in the generation of stress, namely perceived coping incapacity (PCI), relate to the extent of psychosomatic ailments. We developed a new scale, CAST (Cognitive Appraisal Stress Test), with a 10 point self-rating of PCI using 16 questions on different aspects of perceived demands versus perceived capabilities. For the assessment of ailments relevant to stress we constructed a scale (PSYSOM) based on a translation of the Scheuch-Vogel symptom list (developed in the GDR from self-report of teachers who could not work as a result of work stress). A special scoring system combined duration, intensity and frequency of 30 symptoms and provided normalisation of distributions. The scales were administered on separate days to 75 female students in their second year (working to obtain admission to an honours degree course). The hypothesis was strongly supported, since the overall scale of PSYSOM correlated with CAST: r = 0.42, p less than .001. The physiologically defined subscale of 'skeletal muscle tension' correlated r = 0.65 with CAST. Subsequently CAST and PSYSOM have been shortened and factor analysed to give, in each case, a general principal component scale and several identifiable varimax subscales. Research using these scales on employees has now provided cross-validation of the first findings reported here.