Psychometric Properties of Stress Check List for Self and its Relationship to Health Satisfaction and Psychological Traits (Extroversion-Introversion)

Abstract

Psychometric Properties of Stress Check List for Self and its Relationship to Health Satisfaction and Psychological Traits (Extroversion-Introversion): Tomoyuki KAWADA, et al. Department of Public Health, Gunma University School of Medicine—This study focused on the reliability and validity of the Stress Check List for Self (SCL-S). Relationships of the SCL-S to types of work, health satisfaction, psychological traits, current medication, and stress coping were also tentatively analyzed. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to employees of a railroad company, of whom 1, 706 men aged 18 to 55 were selected randomly and 1, 045 (61.3%) responded. The SCL-S consists of 30 items, each of which is scored 1 or 0, depending on whether or not a symptom is present. The SCL-S score is defined as the summation of each binary datum. Health satisfaction is scored as 1 (satisfied), 2 (moderately satisfied), or 3 (not satisfied). The psychological trait item is scored as 1 (extrovert) or 2 (introvert). Present medication is scored as 1 (yes) or 0 (no). We also asked the respondents whether they had experienced stress coping, hobbies and consultation with others. Each of these items was scored as 1 (yes) or 0 (no). There was a difference in the mean SCL-S value among age-groups as a whole (p<0.05). Cronbach''s alpha coefficient for the target group was 0.817. Principal factor analysis was conducted on 30 items of the SCL-S. Three factors were extracted. Factor 1 consisted of three items which related to motivation. Factor 2 consisted of six items which related to physical symptoms. Factor 3 consisted of six items which related to symptoms of autonomic imbalance. These three factors explained only 18.2% of total variation. The mean SCL-S value was quite high in the groups characterized by introversion p<0.01), having no one to consult (p<0.05), and not having a hobby (p<0.01). The higher health satisfaction score was, the lower the mean value of the SCL-S and this was significant (p< 0.01). Multiple regression analysis was conducted to predict SCL-S scores by other variables. Significant standardized partial regression coefficient items increasing the SCL-S value were introversion trait (p<0.05), not having a hobby (p<0.05), and health dissatisfaction (p<0.01). Among these three variables, health dissatisfaction contributed most to the SCL-S. The adjusted coefficient of determination was 0.185. These results raise the possibility that the SCL-S can be based on division into three different scales. Internal consistency was nearly acceptable with the adoption of an alpha value over 0.8. In addition, health satisfaction was most closely related to subjectively reported stress or stress response judged by SCL-S.