Sarason, I.G., Levine, H.M., Basham, R.B., & Sarason B.R.

Free

Free, but authors request that the findings of any studies done using these instruments be forwarded to them.

Irwin Sarason
Professor Emeritus
University of Washington
Department of Psychology
Guthrie 228
Box 351525
Seattle, WA
98195-1525
Phone: 1-206-543-6542
Fax: 1-206-685-3157
E-mail: isarason@uw.edu 

No copy available from the Knowledge Institute. Contact author or publisher.

Free, but authors request that the findings of any studies done using these instruments be forwarded to them.

1983, 1987

Long and short (SSQ6) versions

Primary: Social and emotional skills, social support, relationships
Secondary: None identified

Social support.

To assess perceived social support and satisfaction with social support relationships.

This measure may be used to assess perceived social support and/or satisfaction with social support, or as an indicator of change in sources of social support or satisfaction with those sources.

Adults

A copy of the long version is available as an appendix in Sarason et al. (1983). Sarason et al. (1987) indicates the items from the SSQ that were taken to make the SSQ6. For versions in languages other than English, please consult the relevant articles if the 'Key References' section.

Self-report.

Adult.

SSQ: 27SSQ6: 6

SSQ: Sources of support and Satisfaction with support. Since two questions are answered for all 27 items, both subscales have 27 items. SSQ6: Same as for SSQ, but with 6 items in each subscale.

Each item asks for two responses: First, respondents list the names of people in their lives who support them in the manner described by the question. Secondly, the respondent is asked to indicate how satisfied they are with the overall level of social support they have in the manner described. Satisfaction is rated on a 6-point scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 6 (very satisfied).

15-18 minutes.

Information not indicated / not available at this time

SSQ: For each item there are two scores: The N score is the number of sources of support listed for that item. The S score is the degree of satisfaction with the social support the individual has with the issue indicated by the item. The N and S scores are obtained separately by summing scores for each item and then dividing by the number of items in the measure (i.e., calculating the average response score for either the S or the N values). Specific qualifications required for scoring and interpretation are not indicated. SSQ6: Same as for SSQ, but dividing by 6 instead of 27. Specific qualifications required for scoring and interpretation are not indicated.

SSQ: Measure was developed over the course of three studies. The first study used a sample of 602 undergraduate students from the University of Washington. The second study used a sample of 227 (100 male and 127 female) introductory psychology students, again from the University of Washington. The third study used a sample of 295 introductory psychology students, also from the University of Washington. SSQ6: The measure was developed using three samples. The first sample consisted of 182 undergraduate students (108 women and 74 men). The second sample consisted of 217 introductory psychology students (136 female and 81 male). Sample three consisted of 146 introductory psychology students (87 female and 59 male).

SSQ: The authors report an internal consistency reliability (alpha) of 0.97 for the N scores and 0.94 for the S scores, and test-retest reliabilities of 0.90 and 0.83 for the N and S scales, respectively. Matsukura et al. (2002) reported alphas of 0.94-0.96 and test-retest reliability kappas of 0.16-0.58.

SSQ6: The authors report internal consistency reliabilities (alphas) of 0.90-0.93. Rascale et al. (2005) reported alphas of 0.82-0.96 and test-retest reliabilities of 0.84-0.89.

SSQ: The authors report evidence of extensive convergent validity. Rascale et al. (2005) reported evidence of discriminative validity and moderate convergent validity.

SSQ6: The authors report evidence of extensive convergent validity, in particular with the long form of the SSQ. De Man et al. (1986) reported evidence of discriminative validity and extensive convergent validity.

Free

Free, but authors request that the findings of any studies done using these instruments be forwarded to them.

Irwin Sarason
Professor Emeritus
University of Washington
Department of Psychology
Guthrie 228
Box 351525
Seattle, WA
98195-1525
Phone: 1-206-543-6542
Fax: 1-206-685-3157
E-mail: isarason@uw.edu 

Not at this time

de Man, A.F., Balkou, S., & Iglesias, R. (1986). Une version Canadienne Française du Questionnaire sur le Soutien Social. Santé Mentale au Québec, 11(2), 199-202.

Matsukura, T.S., Marturano, E.M., & Oishi, J. (2002). O Questionário de Suporte Social (SSQ): Estudos da adaptação para o Português. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 10(5), 675-681.

Pan, A.W., Chen, Y.L., Hsiung, P.C., & Chung, L. (2008). Applying Rasch measurement model to examing the psychometric properties of the Social Support Questionnaire - Chinese version. [Chinese]. Paper presented at the 8th Occupational Therapy Conference.

Rascale, N., Bruchon-Schweitzer, M., & Sarason, I.G. (2005). Short form of Sarason's Social Support Questionnaire: French adaptation and validation. Psychological Reports, 97(1), 195-202.

Sarason, I.G., Levine, H.M., Basham, R.B., & Sarason, B.R. (1983). Assessing social support: The Social Support Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 127-139.

Sarason, I.G., Sarason, B.R., Sheerin, E.N., & Pierce, G.R. (1987). A brief measure of social support: Practical and theoretical implications. Journal of Personal and Social Relationships, 4, 497-510.

Teixeira, A.P. & Monteiro, A.V. (2011).Psychometric properties of a Russian version of the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ6) in eastern European immigrants. Contemporary Nurse, 39(2), 157-162.