Evaluating how university students adapt to stress: psychometric validation of a psychological instruments battery

Background: In modern society, increased awareness of stress stems mainly from the pressures of competitive environments, where the pursuit of academic and professional success places substantial demands on individuals, who must adapt. Drawing on the Transactional Model and the Interactive Model of Human Adaptation to Stress, this paper presents a battery of instruments designed to comprehensively assess university students' adaptation to stress. Methods: Data were collected from two academic years, using two independent samples of students: a calibration sample (n = 561) and a validation sample (n = 370) to test the psychometric properties of the instruments. The evaluation protocol included the Stress Questionnaire for Students (SQS), the Primary and Secondary Cogni-tive Appraisal Scale (PSCAS), the Reduced Coping Inventory (Coping-R), and the Academ-ic Achievement Expectations (AAE). Results: Psychometric validation analyses indicated the best versions of the instruments’ battery. Namely, an 18-item version and a six-factor structure for the SQS, a 10-item version and a five-factor structure for the PSCAS, a 12-item version and a four-factor structure for the Coping-R, and a five-item, one-factor structure for the AAE. Conclusion: The proposed instruments can serve as a compound resource for screening for academic stress experiences in university students, and as an original tool to understand the entire process of stress adaptation.
This study was conducted at three different research centers: (a) Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi; PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; UID/01662/2025) through the Portuguese State Budget. The CIPsi is registered under the DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/01662/2025; (b) Research Centre for Human Development (supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, ref. UID/04872/2025); and (c) Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA: E), University of Coimbra (supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, ref. UID/00742/2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00742/2025.