The multidimensional scale of perceived social support : dimensionality and age and gender differences in adolescents
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Personality and Individual Differences
Publication Date
11-1-2004
Volume
37
Issue
7
First Page
1359
Last Page
1369
Publisher
Pergamon Press
Keywords
Family support, Friends support, Significant other support, Adolescents
Abstract
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support which contains three subscales––family, friends, and significant other support––was administered to 2105 high school students in Hong Kong. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed on two competing models, and the model that fit the data was a hierarchical model in which the three first-order factors were produced by a higher-order factor of overall support. Results showed that the higher-order factor was completely redundant with the first-order factor of significant other support which appeared to measure both friends and family support at the same time. The significant other subscale therefore poses serious conceptual and measurement problems. Further analysis based on the family and the friends subscales showed that girls reported more friends but less family support than boys, and older adolescents also reported less family support than younger ones. Older girls reported the highest level of friends support, and younger boys reported the highest level of family support.
DOI
10.1016/j.paid.2004.01.006
Print ISSN
01918869
E-ISSN
18733549
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2004 Elsevier Ltd
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Cheng, S. T., & Chan, C. M. A. (2004). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support: Dimensionality and age and gender differences in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 37(7), 1359-1369. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2004.01.006