Factors influencing college student health: Development of the Psychological Distress Inventory.

Describes the 3-phase development of the Psychological Distress Inventory (PDI), and instrument designed primarily to measure life stress in college students. In Phase 1, the responses of 198 students were studied to select items empirically and to construct the clinical scales. Phases 2 involved cross-validating the measure with an independent sample of 242 students. Phase 3 consisted of a criterion-related validity study. Standard psychometric information is presented, including reliability, validity, and some effects of response set on the measure. In addition to measuring life stress, the PDI allows users to separately assess degree of depression, anxiety, and somatic discomfort. It is suggested that in college populations, this instrument has broad utility as a research and clinical tool. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)