Reliability and Validity of the Hispanic Stress Inventory

Abstract

Thlis study examined the reliability and validitv of a newly developed instrument to assess psychosocial stress amonig Hispanic adults, the Hispanic Stress Inventory (HSI). A community pilot sample (N = 493) was obtained using the HSI along with a variety of criterion measures. Factor analytic procedures resulted in two versions of the HSI, one for Hispanic immigrants and a second for U.S. born Hispanics. Sub-scale scores and total HSI scores for both versions were found to correlate strongly with criterion measures of psychological distress. Further, sub-scales and HSI total scores were found to have high levels of internal consistency. A small sample test-retest proved to lend additional support for the reliability of the HSI. Results are discussed in terms of the need for further validation antd reliability studies using the HSI, as well as the clinical and research utilit of this measure of psychological stress.