In a study of individuals' television viewing hours per week, the predictors are defined as income, job in terms of hours per week, number of people living in the household and stress level. The stress level is the only categorical variable with self-reported levels of stress as 1 = none to 5 = extreme. The stress level can be used as a number in the regression equation.

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Stress level, despite being a categorical variable, can be treated as an ordinal variable in this context because its categories have a natural order from 1 (none) to 5 (extreme). This allows it to be used as a numeric predictor in the regression equation, assuming the relationship between stress levels and the dependent variable (television viewing hours) is linear or can be appropriately modeled.

In a Study of Individuals' Television Viewing Hours Per Week