Assessing Chinese adolescents' social support: The multidimensional scale of perceived social support

Abstract The psychometric and factor-analytic properties of the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS-C) were investigated in a Hong Kong Chinese adolescent sample. Two factors were extracted from this sample and they are Friend and Family subscales. The reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the MSPSS-C were also established. The MSPSS-C demonstrated excellent internal consistency including the two subscales. In terms of construct validity, the MSPSS-C correlated negatively with depression and anxiety assessed by the General Health Questionnaire. The concurrent validity of the MSPSS-C was demonstrated by the positive association between the MSPSS-C and the Lubben Social Network Scale.

[1]  M. Antoni,et al.  Life Events, Social Support, and Illness , 1985, Psychosomatic medicine.

[2]  Alan Vaux,et al.  Support network characteristics associated with support satisfaction and perceived support , 1985 .

[3]  D. Goldberg The detection of psychiatric illness by questionnaire : a technique for the identification and assessment of non-psychotic psychiatric illness , 1972 .

[4]  B. Wilcox,et al.  Social support, life stress, and psychological adjustment: A test of the buffering hypothesis , 1981, American journal of community psychology.

[5]  Robert F. DeVellis,et al.  Scale Development: Theory and Applications. , 1992 .

[6]  C. H. Tardy,et al.  Social support measurement , 1985 .

[7]  K. Heller,et al.  Measures of perceived social support from friends and from family: Three validation studies , 1983, American journal of community psychology.

[8]  Manuel Barrera,et al.  Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models , 1986 .

[9]  J. Lubben Assessing social networks among elderly populations. , 1988 .

[10]  Y. Ben-Porath,et al.  Assessment of coping: an empirical illustration of the problem of inapplicable items. , 1991, Journal of personality assessment.

[11]  I. Chi Mental Health of the Old-Old in Hong Kong , 1995 .

[12]  S. Kazarian,et al.  Dimensions of social support in the MSPSS: Factorial structure, reliability, and theoretical implications , 1991 .

[13]  Sharon Riedel,et al.  Modes of social support: The social support behaviors (SS-B) scale , 1987 .

[14]  S. Danish,et al.  Evaluation of data screening methods in surveys of adolescents' drug use. , 1991 .

[15]  N. Lin,et al.  Social support, stressful life events, and illness: a model and an empirical test. , 1979, Journal of health and social behavior.

[16]  G. Andrews,et al.  LIFE EVENT STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, COPING STYLE, AND RISK OF PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPAIRMENT , 1978, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[17]  S. Monroe,et al.  Prediction of psychological symptoms under high-risk psychosocial circumstances: life events, social support, and symptom specificity. , 1983, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[18]  G. Zimet,et al.  The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support , 1988 .

[19]  D. Shek Reliability and factorial structure of the Chinese version of the General Health Questionnaire. , 1987, Journal of clinical psychology.

[20]  A. Dean,et al.  Effects of social support from various sources on depression in elderly persons. , 1990, Journal of health and social behavior.

[21]  J. House,et al.  Measures and concepts of social support , 1985 .

[22]  D. Chan,et al.  Reliability, validity and the structure of the General Health Questionnaire in a Chinese context , 1983, Psychological Medicine.

[23]  S. Syme,et al.  Social support and health. , 1986 .