ASSESSMENT OF PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS IN ROMANIAN ADULTS
Abstract:
Background: Stress is one of the most important health-related and quality of life factor in the modern society. Measuring stress level and assessing the correlations with different personal characteristics became critical, both in social and medical and public health interventions. Objective: to assess the level of perceived stress in relationship with self evaluated socio –demographic and economic characteristics. Materials and methods: socio-demographic, economic characteristics, perceived health status and perceived stress level were assessed using a Personal characteristics self-evaluation questionnaire and Perceived Stress Scale 14 items (Cohen et all, 1983), in a sample of 928 adult subjects, selected through “snow ball method” from three historical regions of Romania– Moldavia, Muntenia, Transilvania. Results: Similarities to other studies were noticed in overall score, by gender, or according to education or economic statute. Perceived stress level has been higher in women, increased from younger to older groups and decreased for subjects with higher education level and higher average income per family member. Subjects from urban environment seemed to be less stressed than rural and differ by geographic regions. Conclusions: PSS 14 is a valuable and easy to apply tool that should be used as a routine instrument for situation scan in medical, public health and social interventions.
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