The Family support scale : Reliability and validity

A sizeable body of Iitoraturo indicatBs that social networks and the social suppon lh€y provlde mediat€ personal and familial well.being, stress, and coping (Bott, 1971; Dsan & Lin, 1977; Mccubbin, Joy, Cauble, Comeau, Patterson, & Needle, 1980i Mitchell & Trickett, 1980)The concept of social support has becoms a focal point of research designed to oxplicate the relationship belween different dimensions ot supporl and physical and omotional well-being (Gore, 1978; Janis, 1975j LaRocco, House, & French, 1980); support and lif8 satisfaction (Crnic, Greenberg, & Bagozin., 1981); and support and child d6velopmentt (Cochran, & Brassard, 1979; Crackenbarg, 198'1): to mention jusl a lew investigative areas. Social support has been de" fined in a number ol ways, includinq network characterislics, types ol support, and qualitative aspects (Andrews & Withey, 1976; Barrela & Ainlay, 1983; Mitchell & Trickett, 1980)Network characteristics include siz€, density, connectedness, and lrsquency of contacts; types of support includ€ material aid, emo tional and instrumental assis! ance, and guidance and information sharingj and qualitative aspects include both satisfaction wlth support and the degree of perceiv6d helpfulness of support. Support is generally considered a multidimensional conslruct that has both quantitative and qualitative fealures. Dean and Lin (1977), in thBir reyiew ol the stress-butlering 1016 of social support, made nota ol the fact although there is con" siderable evidence to indicale that support m€diates well-being and coping, "the development of reliable and valid measures ol social support remains a priority task-. A thorough search in the social and psychological inventories ol scales has failed to uncover any measures o, social suPPor! with €ither known and/or acceptable properti€rs of reliabili ty and validity" (PP. 40HOg). A recent rBview of social support measurres (Dunst & Trivette, 1984) linds the state ol alfairs not much better. With lhe excePtion ot t$/o recently develop€d inatruments (Barrera & Ainlay, 1983; Lin, D€an, & Ensel,.l981)' no other measures ol social suppon are available that mbel minimal psychometric standards (American Psychological Association, 1974). Barrsra (1 981 ) stressed the ne€d to have broad-based, psychometrically sound measures of support. On the one hand he noted that if social support is a multidimensional construct, multiple measures ot support are necessary in order to isolate the different dlmensions ol the construcl. On the other hand he noted that "A multimethod aPproach to assessing suPPort would also allow for a more precise specilication of what aspects of suPport are Predictive of adjustment lor specific populations" (p.72). This paper describes the tindings of analyses dosigned to establish lhe reliability and validity of the Famiiy Supporl Scale (see Appendix). The Family SuPPort Scale (FSS) is an 18 item selfreport measure designed to assess the degree to which dit terent sources of support have been helpful to lamilies rearing young children. Ratings are made on a five-point Likert scale ranging from Not At All HelPIul (o) to Extrem€ly Holplul (4). The scale was originally dev€loped as Part of an investigation examining the mediating influences o( social supporl on the personal and lamilial well-beinq and coPing of parenls rearing Preschool