Poverty-Related Stress Scale (PRSS)
A 15-item multidimensional measure assessing poverty-related stressors across noise disturbance, home dysfunction, and financial distress.
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About This Instrument
The Poverty-Related Stress Scale (PRSS) was developed to capture the lived experience of poverty-related stressors that traditional socioeconomic indicators miss. It measures three interrelated dimensions: Noise Disturbance (sleep and functioning disrupted by environmental noise), Home Dysfunction (housing instability, overcrowding, and food insecurity), and Financial Distress (sacrificed aspirations, relocation anxiety, and relationship strain caused by financial hardship).
15 Items
3 subscales
1–4 Scale
Never experienced – Always experienced
CC BY-NC 4.0
Academic/research use with attribution
Conditions of Use: This instrument is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. You may use it for academic, educational, and research purposes at no cost, provided that you give appropriate attribution to Prof. Llewellyn E. van Zyl and cite the original publication. Commercial use is not permitted. You do not need to email for permission. By downloading the instrument below, you confirm that you agree to these terms.
Reference: Allen, B., Klibert, J., & Van Zyl, L. E. (2023). The Poverty-Related Stress Scale: Development and validation of a multidimensional measure assessing poverty-related stressors. Depression and Anxiety, 2023(1), 6659030. View publication
Complete the PRSS
Answer all 15 items below, then calculate your results.
Instructions
Please evaluate the extent to which you have experienced each of the following stressors over the course of the last five years.
Completion
Noise Disturbance
I had difficulty sleeping or doing other important things due to noise disturbances inside my home (e.g., crying infants and loud family members).
I had difficulty sleeping or doing other important things due to noise disturbances outside my home (e.g., loud neighbors, construction, neighborhood violence, public transportation, and car alarms).
I was reluctant to go home or return home because the noise in my house was uncomfortably loud.
I felt the need to get up and leave when it became noisy in my house.
I have felt stressed, irritable, or fatigued by the noise in my home.
Home Dysfunction
Maintenance workers have condemned or threatened to condemn my home due to structural problems, poor maintenance, or other physical hazards associated with the building itself.
My family and I have been threatened with eviction.
I avoid people living in my home as much as possible.
I have not felt as close to a family member or family friend because they are in jail.
I had to take advantage of available garbage bins, charities, soup kitchens, or free events in order to eat.
I have been forced to stay in a homeless shelter, church, other public place, or another person’s home.
Financial Distress
I had to let go of some hopes and dreams to meet my most basic needs (shelter, food, clothing, etc.)
I have worried about how difficult it would be to move if I had to move suddenly.
Financial stress has negatively impacted my family’s relationship.
I had to sacrifice or make tough decisions because of a lack of money.
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