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Instrument Summary for Social Support

Development: The Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ) is a 27-item social support measure developed by Sarason and colleagues and first reported in 1983. Each item presents a specific scenario and asks respondents to list the people who would be available for support in that situation. Respondents are also asked to indicate, for each item, the extent to which they are satisfied with the support available to them using a 6-point scale. The scale was developed using a college student sample.

Purpose: The SSQ is a measure of perceived social support and satisfaction with social support.

Useful Facts: The SSQ is a written self-report questionnaire. Two scores are generated from the responses. One score (the "number" score) is the average number of people perceived to be available for help across the scenarios presented in the 27 items. The other score (the "satisfaction" score) is the average satisfaction rating across items. An abbreviated 6-item version is available and is highly correlated with the other items in the full scale.

VA Relevance: The SSQ has been used among the veteran population.

Availability: The 27-item version may be found in the developmental article by Sarason et al (1983). The 6-item version may be found in the 1987 article by Sarason et al. Both are also available online on Dr. Sarason's website at the University of Washington.

References:

1. Sarason IG, Levine HM, Basham RB, et al. Assessing social support: The Social Support Questionnaire. J Pers Soc Psychol 1983;44:127-139.
2. Sarason IG, Sarason BR, Potter EH, Antoni MH. Life events, social support, and illness. Psychosom Med 1985;47:156-163. [Abstract]
3. Sarason IG, Sarason BR, Shearin EN, et al. A brief measure of social support: Practical and theoretical implications. J Soc Personal Relations 1987;4:497-510.

Development: The Perceived Social Support (PSS) scales were developed by Procidano and Heller in 1983. The authors argued that it is important to differentiate the sources of perceived social support (e.g., friends versus family), as these sources may serve different social support functions and their support may have different types of consequences (later research using the PSS scales supported this distinction). Thus, social support from friends and from family are distinguished in this measure. The PSS questionnaire contains 20 items assessing perceived social support from friends and 20 items assessing perceived social support from family. The measure was developed using a college student sample.

Purpose: The PSS scales measure separately the extent to which respondents perceive social support from friends and from family.

Useful Facts: The PSS scales are self-report questionnaires. Items are scored as either "yes", "no", or "don't know". "Yes" responses are scored 1 point each, and scores are summed separately for the friends and family scales. Swedish and Turkish translations of the PSS scales have been reported in the literature.

VA Relevance: The PSS scales have been used among the veteran population.

Availability: These scales may be found in the second volume of Corcoran K & Fischer J (2000). Measures for Clinical Practice: A Sourcebook. 3rd Ed. (2 vols.) NY, Free Press.

References:

1. Procidano ME, Heller K. Measures of perceived social support from friends and from family: three validation studies. Am J Community Psychol 1983;11:1-24. [Abstract]
2. Ohannessian CM, Hesselbrock VM. The influence of perceived social support on the relationship between family history of alcoholism and drinking behaviors. Addiction 1993;88:1651-1658. [Abstract]
3. Irving LM, Telfer L, Blake DD. Hope, coping, and social support in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. J Trauma Stress 1997;10:465-479. [Abstract]

Development: Cohen and Hoberman reported the development of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL) in 1983. The ISEL contains 40 items comprising four subscales: tangible support, belonging support, self-esteem support, and appraisal support. Items contain first-person statements that reflect aspects of social support domains.

Purpose: The ISEL was developed to provide a multidimensional measure of perceived social support. The authors aimed to incorporate a broad view of social support into the measure in order to examine specific domains (functions) of social support as buffers against life stress.

Useful Facts: The ISEL is a self-administered questionnaire. Respondents may answer either "probably true" or "probably false" for all items. The measure is scored by counting the number of responses that reflect support (some items are worded such that "false" indicates support). The ISEL is available as a 40-item version for the general population¹ and a 48-item version for college students². The use of an abbreviated 15-item version has also been reported in the literature.

VA Relevance: The ISEL has been used among the veteran population.

Availability: This instrument may be found online at Psychology Department of Carnegie Mellon University, Laboratory for the Study of Stress, Immunity and Disease website.

References:

1. Cohen S, Hoberman HM. Positive events and social supports as buffers of life change stress. J Appl Soc Psychol 1983;13:99-125. [Abstract]
2. Cohen S, Mermelstein R, Kamarck T, Hoberman HM. Measuring the functional components of social support. In Sarason IG, Sarason BR (Eds), Social support: theory, research, and applications. The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Niijhoff; 1985.
3. Brookings JB, Bolton B. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List. Am J Community Psychol 1988;16:137-147. [Abstract]