Clinical observations suggest that during times of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown university students exhibit stress-related responses to fear of contagion and to limitations of personal and relational life. The study aims to describe the development and validation of the 7-item COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire (CSSQ), a measurement tool to assess COVID-19-related sources of stress among university students. The CSSQ was developed and validated with 514 Italian university students. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted with one split-half sub-sample to investigate the underlining dimensional structure, suggesting a three-component solution, which was confirmed by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with the second one split-half sub-sample (CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06). The CSSQ three subscales measure COVID-19 students’ stressors related to (1) Relationships and Academic Life (i.e., relationships with relatives, colleagues, professors, and academic studying); (2) Isolation (i.e., social isolation and couple’s relationship, intimacy and sexual life); (3) Fear of Contagion. A Global Stress score was also provided. The questionnaire revealed a satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.71; McDonald’s omega = 0.71). Evidence was also provided for convergent and discriminant validity. The study provided a brief, valid and reliable measure to assess perceived stress to be used for understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown among university students and for developing tailored interventions fostering their wellbeing.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, validation, university students, pandemic lockdown, health psychology, 【초록키워드】 Perceived stress, Stress, lockdown, COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation, Intervention, clinical, response, Validity, fear, questionnaire, Contagion, life, observation, student, Factor, Stressor, limitation, internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha, relationship, Italian, conducted, provided, CFA, CFI, convergent and discriminant, EFA, 【제목키워드】 development, student, Stressor,