A social support scale for music students in music schools, academies, and conservatories: An adaptation into Spanish and a factorial invariance study

Abstract

Social support is one of the variables that exert the greatest influence on the motivation of music students, as well as on emotional aspects that affect their results. Research, however, is limited by the current scarcity of evaluation tools. This article thus presents the process of adaptation into Spanish of the Social Support Scale. We report on the elaboration of the questionnaire’s exact wording through direct and reverse translation. We subsequently present analysis of internal reliability and validity based on a sample of 668 music students in music schools and university-level music academies, aged 12–60 (mean 16.9). The study is complemented by an analysis of factorial invariance comparing secondary education and university. The results reproduce the social support factors stemming from parents and teachers; peer support is subdivided into two subcategories. Discrepancies with the original version are not so much due to the adaptation process, but can be attributed, for the most part, to differences between the sample compositions. Our results indicate that Spanish music students perceive a considerable amount of social support for their music learning activities; differences stand out, however, in terms of age, gender, and educational level.

Social Support as a Facilitator of Musical Self-Efficacy

“…It measures that support through a series of independent scales corresponding to each of the social agents: parents, teachers, and peers, associated with 12, 9, and 10 items respectively, measured on a 7-point Likert-type scale (from 1, "not very much, " to 7, "a lot"). A Spanish version of this scale (Orejudo et al, 2020) has been validated for the academic levels featured in this study. The authors found one factorial structure for parent support (9 items, α = 0.866) and teacher support (10 items, α = 0.866), but two different factors for peer support: one related to musical training activities (5 items, α = 0.785), and the other related to facing taunts (3 items, α = 0.935).…”

“…Although clear evidence has been found for the influence exerted by parents, teachers and peers on the development of a musical career (Orejudo et al, 2020), practically no evidence has been gathered to ascertain whether the role played by these agents leads to an improvement in musical self-efficacy. Previous studies have shown the role they can play by strengthening other elements associated with success in a musical career, such as providing the trainee with a series of resources to help them handle performance anxiety (Zarza-Alzugaray et al, 2020), but no direct data has been provided regarding the relationship between the support coming from those agents and the development of the musical self-efficacy.…”

“…Moore et al (2003) related social support to progress in an artist's musical career; Nogaj and Ossowski (2015) related it to achievement, Sichivitsa (2007) found that parental support is a basic factor in music students' self-concept, whereas Howe and Sloboda (1991) highlight the role played by parents and siblings in the initial stages of musical training. Social support is defined as a multidimensional construct that involves different types of support: instrumental and emotional support, as well as what a series of personal agents can provide -in the case of music, those agents are the family, teachers, and peers (Orejudo et al, 2020). Creech (2009) has specified that parents support their children by three different types of means: behavioral support, cognitive support, and personal support.…”

“…Indeed, these three "source groups" are not regarded as mutually independent. For instance, parents who have enjoyed musical training and have a direct relationship with music are generally perceived as better sources of support than those for whom it is not the case (Sichivitsa, 2007;Ritchie and Williamon, 2013;Orejudo et al, 2020). They effectively encourage the student to persevere with their musical training (Jeppsson and Lindgren, 2018).…”

“…For purposes of analysis, we differentiate two age groups in conservatorios profesionales: younger students, on the one hand, and 16-18-year-olds, on the other. We chose to apply this division based on evidence (Orejudo et al, 2020) that students in the latter age group are combining musical training with secondary education which allows them access to university, and are going through a decision-making process regarding their professional future, which can affect the level of their commitment to musical activities.…”