Stress in university students: The DECORE-Student questionnaire (DECORE-S)

Abstract

Academic stress has attracted research interest in recent decades due to the similarity found between the occurrence of stress in students and that experienced by workers in organisations. However, tools to assess academic stress are either scarce, general or evaluate the consequences of academic stress. This study aims to validate the psychometric properties of the DECORE-S questionnaire in a sample of students, based on the original 44-item model used in the work context. A cross-sectional design was used in which 1117 university students from different subject areas participated. The results show an adequate fit for the four-factor model (cognitive demands, control, support, and rewards) and internal consistency indices greater than .70 for all scales using 30 items. Students had the highest scores on the cognitive demand scale. Consequently, the use of the DECORE-S questionnaire to assess academic stress is recommended.