Suitability of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support as a measure of functional social support among incarcerated adults with major depressive disorder

Abstract

The multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) is a 12‐item measure of functional social support (SS); however, the psychometric properties of the MSPSS have not been evaluated in prisoners. We used measures of known‐groups validity, convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency reliability and factor structure to assess the suitability of the MSPSS for measuring SS among 184 individuals in prison in the U.S., who were diagnosed with depression. The MSPSS was correlated with scores on scales measuring related constructs (i.e., loneliness), and uncorrelated with unrelated constructs (i.e., verbal ability). Correlations among items of the MSPSS on the same subscale were large, and small to moderate among items of different subscales. The overall Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.93. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the theorized three‐factor solution for the MSPSS (i.e., significant other, family, and friends) provided a good fit for the data. We recommend using the MSPSS to measure perceived SS among incarcerated individuals.

Measuring Perceived Social Support in Elite Athletes: Psychometric Properties of the Romanian Version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

“…Therefore, there is a suitable level of representativeness of every item in assessing the particular social support factor for which it was initially designed. Moreover, the correlations showed moderate values among the three factors, similar to those obtained in previous studies (Bugajski et al., 2019; Dahlem et al., 1991; Duru, 2007; Trejos-Herrera et al., 2018; Wittenborn et al., 2020; Wongpakaran et al., 2018; Zimet et al., 1988). Such values underpinned adequate theoretical divergence among the three specific sources of social support, as initially proposed by Zimet et al.…”

“…The possible differences between female and male elite athletes could be interpreted as resulting from current differences in the adequacy and availability of the perceived social support from their family, friends, and other significant persons rather than from an MSPSS failure to measure the same constructs among different subpopulations of athletes. The results derived from internal consistency examination showed satisfactory values for each of the three factors of the MSPSS, in line with previous findings of the original version (Bugajski et al., 2019; Dahlem et al., 1991; Wittenborn et al., 2020; Wongpakaran et al., 2018). Additionally, the estimation of AVE with values higher than .50 added further evidence to endorse the instrument’s internal consistency.…”

“…The current study was the first study to our knowledge to assess the psychometric (i.e., validity and reliability) characteristics of a Romanian version of the MSPSS in a sample of Romanian elite athletes. Our CFA provided psychometric support for a 12-item three-factor correlated model, consistent with both the original version (Zimet et al, 1988) and its different adaptations to other contexts (Bugajski et al, 2019;Dahlem et al, 1991;Duru, 2007;Trejos-Herrera et al, 2018;Wittenborn et al, 2020;Wongpakaran et al, 2018). However, it should be underscored that, to obtain an acceptable fit to data, there was a need to correlate a pair of residual errors among two items.…”

“…It has been tested on different age groups and across different cultural backgrounds and found to be a reliable and valid measure of perceived social support (Canty-Mitchell & Zimet, 2000; Clara et al., 2003; Ramaswamy et al., 2009). MSPSS strengths include: (a) brevity – with only 12 items, four for each source of social support (MSPSS is not time-consuming and can be used in conjunction with other instruments when a study is designed to capture a broader range of variables); (b) readability – according to Canty-Mitchell and Zimet (2000), MSPSS items are easy to understand requiring only a fourth-grade reading level; (c) freedom from a social desirability response bias in that two studies (Dahlem et al., 1991; Kazarian & McCabe, 1991) reported negligible correlations between MSPSS and scores from the well-known Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale; and (d) well-established psychometric properties with community samples of adolescents (Canty-Mitchell & Zimet, 2000; Laksmita et al., 2020; Ramaswamy et al., 2009; Zimet et al., 1990), college students (Dahlem et al., 1991; Duru, 2007; Zimet et al., 1988), healthy participants (Rizwan & Aftab, 2009), unhealthy participants (Bugajski et al., 2019; Wittenborn et al., 2020) and adults, and older people (Wongpakaran et al., 2018). However, it should also be underscored that some studies indicated the need to correlate three (Wongpakaran et al., 2018) or four (Trejos-Herrera et al., 2018) pairs of errors among items in order to obtain a good fit of the MSPSS.…”

The Impact of Coping Strategies and Perceived Family Support on Depressive and Anxious Symptomatology During the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) Lockdown

“…The questionnaire measures three different sources of support: Family (4 items), Friends (4 items), and Significant Other (4 items), and there is also a total support score (12 items). The questionnaire demonstrated good internal and test-retest reliability (52).…”