The Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults (Adult STRAIN) in German: An overview and initial validation.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science
    • Subject Terms:
      Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Stress, Psychological* ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; Translations*; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Germany ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged
    • Abstract:
      Life stress is a key determinant of poor mental and physical health, but until recently no instrument existed for efficiently assessing cumulative stress exposure and severity across the entire lifespan. The Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN) is an online, interview-based stress assessment system that was developed to address this need. We examined the concurrent, predictive, and discriminant validity of a German translation of the STRAIN by administering the instrument, along with several other measures of stress and health, to 298 adults (81 men, 217 women, Mage = 30.3 years). The German STRAIN demonstrated excellent concurrent validity, as evidenced by associations with other instruments assessing early adversity (|rs|≥.62, ps≤.001). It also correlated with instruments assessing recent life event exposure in adulthood (|rs|≥.48, ps≤.001), as well as recent perceived stress (|rs|≥ .25, ps≤.001) and recent chronic stress levels (|rs|≥ .19, ps≤.001). Additionally, the German STRAIN showed strong predictive validity in relation to anxiety symptoms (|rs|≥ .22, ps≤.001) and depressive symptoms (|rs|≥ .33, ps≤.001). Finally, the German STRAIN showed good discriminant validity, with lifetime stressor count being unrelated to personality features like neuroticism. These results demonstrate that the German version of the STRAIN is a valid tool for assessing lifetime stress exposure and severity. Additional research is needed to examine how the German STRAIN predicts psychological and biological stress reactivity and physical health outcomes.
      Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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    • Grant Information:
      K08 MH103443 United States MH NIMH NIH HHS
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20190510 Date Completed: 20200114 Latest Revision: 20200325
    • Publication Date:
      20240105
    • Accession Number:
      PMC6508721
    • Accession Number:
      10.1371/journal.pone.0216419
    • Accession Number:
      31071135