Chronic Childhood Stress: Psychometric Properties of the Chronic Stress Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CSQ-CA) in Three Independent Samples

Abstract

Stress in children and adolescents is common and related to many developmental problems. However, most studies have made no distinction between temporary or chronic stress due to the lack of a suitable questionnaire. This study tested the factor structure, reliability and validity of the 17-item self-report Chronic Stress Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CSQ-CA) in three samples, that is, 717 adolescents from the general population, 161 adolescents of parents with a severe chronic medical condition (CMC) like multiple sclerosis, and 113 adolescents with healthy parents. Results showed that a one-factor solution provided a reasonable fit overall. Reliability was good (α = .80 to .88). Convergent validity was supported by positive relations between total stress scores and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, experience of daily hassles, and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and negative relations with quality of life, happiness, mindfulness, self-esteem, and coping skills. Adolescents from all samples, who themselves had a light CMC like asthma, showed higher chronic stress levels than those without a CMC. In line, adolescents of parents with a severe CMC reported more chronic stress than those of healthy parents, and adolescents with a chronic illness themselves and a parent with a chronic illness, showed the highest scores across the two family types. Overall, this study presents Child Ind Res (2018)

The Effect of Mindfulness Interventions for Parents on Parenting Stress and Youth Psychological Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…p Sustained attention measured by HRT block change measure of CCPT; MAAS, Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (Brown and Ryan, 2003); YSR, Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991a); CBCL, Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991b); SHS, Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky and Lepper, 1999); SCRS, Self Control Rating Scale (Kendall, 1979); CSBQ, Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (Luteijn et al, 2000); MAAS-A, Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale–Adolescent (Brown et al, 2011); PSWQ, Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Meyer et al, 1990); Ruminative Response Scale (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000); WHO-5, World Health Organization-Five Wellbeing Index (Bech et al, 2003); SRS, Social Responsiveness Scale (Constantino and Gruber, 2005); AQ, Autism Questionnaire (Auyeung et al, 2008); RCADS, Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (Chorpita et al, 2000); Conners, Conners 3rd Edition (Conners, 2008); SDQ, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997); ECBI, Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (Robinson et al, 1980); SWAN, Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behaviors Rating Scale (Swanson et al, 2012); CANT, Child Attention Network Test (Posner and Petersen, 1990); DCS, Dysregulation Coding System (Hoffman et al, 2006); ERC, Emotion Regulation Checklist (Shields and Cicchetti, 1997); SSIS, Social Skills Improvement System (Gresham and Elliott, 2008); IBQ-R, Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised, Very Short Form (Putnam et al, 2014); BDI-II, Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al, 1996); SCS, Self Compassion Scale (Neff, 2015); EQD, Experiences Questionnaire (Fresco et al, 2007), Decentring subscale; CAMM, Children's Acceptance and Awareness Measure (De Bruin et al, 2013); CSQ-CA, Chronic Stress Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (De Bruin et al, 2017); CSRQ, Chronic Sleep Reduction Questionnaire (Meijer, 2008); DBDRS, Disruptive Behavior Disorder Rating Scale (Pelham et al, 1992); FFS, Flinders Fatigue Scale (Gradisar et al, 2007); BRIEF, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (Goia et al, 2000) .…”

Self-Reported Stress and Questionnaires in People With Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Systematic Review

“…This category is characterized by questionnaires focusing on the frequency of behavior, feelings and/or somatic problems related to stress or on the intensity of the stress reaction. Five questionnaires fulfilled this description: (i) the Adjusted Stress Survey Schedule (SSS; Groden et al, 2001), (ii) the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al, 1983; Cohen & Williamson, 1988), (iii) the Stress in Children Questionnaire (SiC questionnaire; Osika et al, 2007), (iv) the Chronic Stress Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CSQ-CA; De Bruin et al, 2018) and (v) a self-developed questionnaire (Hillier et al, 2016).…”

The effectiveness of school-based skills-training programs promoting mental health in adolescents: a study protocol for a randomized controlled study

“…Stress levels of students will be measured with the Chronic Stress Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CSQ-CA) [5] and will be completed by students and parents (adapted version). The CSQ-CA is a 19-item self-report questionnaire (e.g., “I often get upset about things that are not important”) that demonstrated good psychometric properties with an internal consistency of .87 [5]. In addition, physiological measurements are performed to assess basal stress levels in a subsample of students.…”

“…During adolescence many changes occur simultaneously, including puberty and the transition to high school. At the same time, adolescence is a period of increased stress sensitivity [2–4], which contributes to adolescents’ increased risk for mental health problems, such as burnout, depression, anxiety and externalizing problems [5–8] and which may negatively affect the well-being of adolescents [9–11] and later developmental outcomes [12]. Stress also has a negative effect on academic performance [13–15] and can result in school absenteeism or dropout [16].…”