THE SOURCES OF SOCIAL SUPPORT: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VALID AND RELIABLE INVENTORY.
Item
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Title
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THE SOURCES OF SOCIAL SUPPORT: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VALID AND RELIABLE INVENTORY.
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Identifier
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AAI8508734
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identifier
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8508734
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Creator
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SHAW, JEFFREY STEPHEN.
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Contributor
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Florence L. Denmark
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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The present research concerns the development of the Shaw-Denmark Social Support Inventory (SDSSI), designed to measure the sources of support one goes to for help with a personal problem. The initial version of the inventory consisted of questions for 13 individual supports concerning (1) the likelihood of going to each support for help; (2) which supports had been used in the past; and (3) how satisfied the subject was with each support used previously. Subjects were also asked about their satisfaction with their work and neighborhood.;The primary goal of the research was to develop an inventory with appropriate psychometric properties to allow for its use in future research. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, carried out on 137 daytime college students, construct validity was established by basing the inventory on previous relevant research, a factor analysis of the SDSSI variables yielding a meaningful structure, and primarily positive correlations between the SDSSI variables and adjustment. Also, test-retest correlations for the SDSSI variables appeared acceptable (mean = .61; median = .64) using a three week test-retest period.;For Study 2, carried out on 151 part-time evening graduate students, the SDSSI was modified to include three additional supports and a question on reciprocity. Also, questions to detect the response styles of social desirability and acquiescence were included. The results again provided a meaningful factor structure and primarily positive correlations with adjustment, and mostly low correlations between the SDSSI variables and response style measures.;Other relevant findings of the research were: (1) the SDSSI variable which correlated most strongly with adjustment was satisfaction with reciprocal relationships; (2) both studies provided possible evidence of a "support-oriented personality," as those subjects who utilized community resources in the past also used friend and relative sources of support more than other subjects; (3) a four-way breakdown of subjects by gender and past use or non-use of community resources appeared far more informative than a mere male-female breakdown; and (4) the neutral adjectives of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory served as a possible mechanism for detecting response styles, though further research on this topic should be carried out.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
