to 15) and self-imposed (6 to 30). Total stress scores were calculated by summing

constructs scores.

 The researcher determined constructs related to reactions to stress including

physiological, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive appraisal, unimportant for this study

as they measured physical and psychological responses to stress and not level of stress.

Therefore, these were removed from the instrument prior to data collection. Furthermore,

item number six was removed from the frustration construct as it was not related to stress

between the faculty member and the student. Stems of the items were altered to include

the words "in this course" to facilitate the measurement of stress specific to the course of

which the instrument was administered.

 The SSI was used with permission. The SSI was assessed for reliability with

Cronbach's alpha coefficients and validity through confirmatory factor analysis

(construct validity) (Gadzella & Baloglu, 2001). See Table 3-2 for descriptive

information regarding constructs and reliability of the SSI.

Table 3-2. Construct Reliability of Student-life Stress Inventory
Construct No. of items Mean SD a
tTotal Stressors 23 70.09 11.53 .92
 Frustrations 7 17.65 3.87 .70
 tConflicts 3 8.43 1.91 .68
 tPressures 4 14.08 2.83 .80
 tChanges 3 8.03 2.39 .86
 tSelf-imposed 6 21.82 3.78 .63
Total Reactions to Stressors 28 67.19 13.32 .75
 Physiological 14 31.07 8.32 .86
 Emotional 4 12.17 3.51 .82
 Behavioral 8 11.47 4.32 .71
 Cognitive appraisal 2 6.01 1.98 .82
Total SSI 51 137.28 20.98 .92
Note. Source: (Gadzella & Baloglu, 2001). t Signifies construct was used for this study.