目前，已有頗多的研究論述成人壓力的評量方式，但對兒童壓力評量之探討則嫌 不足，且其評量工具仍欠缺良好的測驗理論基礎。因此，本文旨在介紹各種兒童壓力評量的 工具及其爭議。 壓力的理論大致分為刺激論、反應論及刺激 / 反應的交互作用論。 而壓力的評量，也因理 論架構不同而發展出不同的評量工具與方法。持刺激理論者，採成人評定及兒童自評式之兒 童生活事件評量表。持反應論者，則採行為觀察法及生理評量法；而持交互作用論者，則採 投射法或晤談法。 在兒童壓力的評量中，最著名且最被廣泛使用者為成人評定之「兒童生活事件評量表」。其 有關問題包括：(1) 生活事件之選取仍偏向「疾病模式」，使其在一般正常發展的研究上受 到限制；(2) 兒童的壓力源並非重大生活事件，而是日常生活小困擾；(3) 信度與效度仍有 諸多疑點；(4) 生活事件的內容隨時代而變遷等。 在兒童自評式的問卷中發現：雖然兒童與專業人士對某些項目的看法頗一致，但在某些生活 事件上的歧見則較深。由此可見評量兒童壓力宜回到兒童本身。 行為觀察法乃藉由兒童之特殊肢體語言、情緒反應及偏差行為，做為判斷兒童壓力的依據。 其最受爭議的是偏差行為可能來自壓力，亦可能來自其他的因素，如：生理缺陷。 生理評量法開啟壓力與疾病間之大門，並有助於了解壓力反應之心理生物基礎。其優點為以 兒童為主體、評量工具具客觀性、並能免除語言中介。但其缺點則是：(1) 精密儀器導向： (2) 生理反應之個別差異大；(3) 主觀感覺與生理反應間存有落差。 投射法及晤談法乃是在輕鬆情境下了解兒童壓力的主觀感覺，此法在諮商與診斷上的用途較 強，但在研究資料的量化過程則有較多的困難。

　　　　　Although much research has been done examining the measurement of adult stress, only few researchers focused on measuring levels of stress in children. Moreover, there is a scarcity of instruments with good psychometrics for the measurement of children's stress. However, it is so crucial for health and social scientists to have a guideline to measure children's stress, especially that children tend not to be aware of their own tense state. The purpose of this study is to introduce various methods in assessing children's stress and argumentation. Classically, theories of stress have been partitioned into three types: stimulus-oriented theories, response-oriented theories, and interactional theories. The measures of stimulusoriented theories focus on adult rating and child self-report life events scales. The measures of response-oriented theories include behavioral observation, stress response scale and physiological assessment. The measures of interactional theories are projection method and interview with children. The most famous inventory is Life Event Scale for Children. The weaknesses of this scale are as follows: 1.the selection of life events is disease-model oriented, which are likely to be of limited utility in the study of normative developmental processes and adaptive, as opposed to maladaptive outcomes. 2.the pool of events in this scale is limited by the focus on so-called major life events and the omission of daily events. 3.the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of this measure are generally inadequate. 4. life events changes along with ages. Behavioral observation is to use body language, emotional responses, and deviations from common behavioral patterns to indicate stress in children. However, deviation may not all come from stressors but from the physiological deficits. In self-report inventory, it was found that children and professional workers agree on some but not all of life events. Therefore, it is crucial to ask or rate children directly when children's stress is measured. Interview is generally held privately in a relaxed atmosphere and information should remain as confidential as possible. This method is useful in the counseling and diagnosis, but is difficult to quantify results. Physiological assessment helps us to understand the psycho-biological base of stress reaction. The strength of this method are to rate children directly, to be objective and without language intervention. The weakness are highly equipment dependence, notable individual difference in reaction and disjunction among behavior, subjective experience, and response.