American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 28, No.

3, 2000

Psychometric Properties of the Multidimensional

Scale of Perceived Social Support in Urban
Adolescents1
Janie Canty-Mitchell2
Indiana University School of Nursing

Gregory D. Zimet
Indiana University School of Medicine

The psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived

Social Support (MSPSS) were investigated in 222 urban, largely African-
American adolescents (68%). High internal consistency was demonstrated,
and factor analysis confirmed the three subscale structures of the MSPSS:
family, friends, and significant other. Correlations with a family caring scale
supported the discriminant validity of the Family subscale. These results
confirm the reliability, validity, and utility of the MSPSS with an urban,
largely African-American adolescent sample. Implications of the findings
are discussed.
KEY WORDS: social support; adolescents; African-American; psychometric properties.

The many psychosocial and behavioral difficulties encountered by urban

youth have been well documented (Alderman, Lauby, & Coupey, 1995;
Shafer & Boyer, 1991; Walter et al., 1992). In recognition of the complexity
and scope of the problems faced by these youth, many research studies
have included multiple measures covering a variety of domains, including
depression, health protective behaviors, health compromising behaviors,
family functioning, academic achievement, experiences with violence, and
1
The work on this research was supported in part by Postdoctoral Research Funds, Indiana
University School of Nursing, and by Maternal and Child Health Bureau Grant MCJ-189596.
2
All correspondence should be addressed to Janie Canty-Mitchell, Ph.D., School of Nursing,
Indiana University, 1111 Middle Drive, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202.

391

0091-0562/00/0600-0391$18.00/0  2000 Plenum Publishing Corporation

392 Canty-Mitchell and Zimet

social support [see Millstein, Petersen, & Nightingale (1993) and Wilson,
Rodrique, & Taylor (1997) for comprehensive reviews of the literature].
The complexity of these studies demands that the measures included be
brief, yet comprehensive, easy to understand, and psychometrically sound,
a difficult combination of features to achieve.
With respect to research including assessment of social support among
adolescents, a number of social support scales have been used, including in-
person interviews and self-report inventories (Cauce, Felner, & Primavera,
1982; Frey & Rothlisberger, 1996; Gavazzi, 1994; Lifrak, McKay, Rostain,
Alterman, & O’Brien, 1997; Licitra-Kleckler & Waas, 1993; Maton et al.,
1996; Secco & Moffatt, 1994; St. Lawrence, Brasfield, Jefferson, Allyene, &
Shirley, 1994). The social support measures used in these studies are rela-
tively long, however, which may preclude their use in research when multi-
ple constructs are being measured (e.g., Brandt & Weinert, 1981; Frey &
Rothlisberger, 1996; Norbeck, Lindsey, & Carrieri, 1981; Procidano &
Heller, 1983). Also, few of these instruments evaluate social support from
a significant other, which, from a cultural and developmental perspective,
may be of particular importance for urban adolescents (Canty-Mitchell,
1996). Furthermore, few data are available on the reading level required
to understand the majority of social support questionnaires, also a relevant
issue for urban adolescents. Finally, social support itself is a multifaceted
construct which includes such diverse notions as the extent of the social
network, the provision of instrumental support, and the perception of sup-
port adequacy. Since it is not possible to address all of the facets of social
support in a single, brief instrument, it is important that a given social
support scale be theoretically grounded and its purview clearly defined
(Tardy, 1985). The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
(MSPSS), though not developed specifically for adolescents, was con-
structed to address several of these issues (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley,
1988). As a result, it has a number of properties which suggest that it may
be a valuable tool for use in research involving urban adolescents.
The MSPSS assesses perceptions of social support adequacy from fam-
ily, friends and a significant other. The inclusion of evaluation of support
from a significant other is one unique aspect of the MSPSS that makes it
particularly relevant to adolescents, a time when interest in dating emerges
and there may be an increased influence of adults outside of the family.
The 12-item scale uses a 7-point Likert-type response format (1 ⫽ very
strongly disagree; 7 ⫽ very strongly agree). Each of the three subscales
(i.e., family, friends, significant other) is assessed with four items. The
theoretical context out of which the MSPSS was developed is described in
some detail in an earlier article (Zimet et al., 1988).
The reliability, validity, and factor structure of the MSPSS have been
MSPSS in Urban Adolescents 393

demonstrated across a number of different samples including university

students (Dahlem, Zimet, & Walker, 1991; Kazarian & McCabe, 1991;
Zimet et al., 1988), pregnant women (Zimet, Powell, Farley, Werkman, &
Berkoff, 1990), adolescents living abroad (Zimet et al., 1990), pediatric
residents (Zimet et al., 1990), adolescents on an inpatient psychiatry unit
(Kazarian & McCable, 1991), and psychiatric outpatients (Cecil, Stanley,
Carrion, & Swann, 1995).
Although the brevity and simplicity of the MSPSS suggest that it also
may be a useful tool for studying behavioral and psychosocial adjustment
among poor, urban adolescents, no research has been published on the
psychometric properties of the MSPSS when used with this population.
The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to evaluate the reliability,
validity, and factor structure of the MSPSS in a nonclinical sample of
urban adolescents, a population on which the MSPSS has not previously
been tested.

METHOD

Participants

The sample included 237 adolescent volunteers from health classes of

two public high schools in a large urban Midwestern city. A relatively
representative sample of students from the two schools was ensured because
health is a mandatory requirement for all public high school students. Of
the 237 adolescents who participated in the study, 222 (94%) returned
completed, usable questionnaires. The mean age of the sample was 15.8
years (SD ⫽ 0.97 years) and 58.5% were female. The sample was 68%
African-American, 23% European-American, and 8% from other ethnic/
racial groups.

Measures

The focus of this study, the MSPSS, is a 12-item scale that measures
perceived support from Family, Friends, and a Significant Other (Zimet et
al., 1988). Respondents answer items on a 7-point Likert-type scale (very
strongly disagree to very strongly agree). As reported in the introduction
above, the reliability and validity of the MSPSS have been demonstrated
across several populations. Terms used to describe sources of social support
in the MSPSS were specifically designed to allow respondents to interpret
items in ways most relevant to themselves. For example, the items measur-
394 Canty-Mitchell and Zimet

ing support from a significant other refer to a ‘‘special person,’’ which may
be interpreted variously to mean a boyfriend/girlfriend, teacher, counselor,
etc. The use of more specific terms could have weakened the scale (e.g.,
asking about a boyfriend/girlfriend presumes the existence of a romantic
relationship). See Table I for MSPSS item wordings.
The Adolescent Family Caring Scale (AFCS; Canty-Mitchell, 2000)
was used to evaluate the discriminant validity of the Family subscale of
the MSPSS. The AFCS is a 44-item scale that measures adolescents’ percep-
tion of caring by family members. It uses a 5-point response format (rarely
to always). The items for the AFCS were developed based on caring theory
and qualitative studies with inner city adolescents (Canty-Mitchell, 1996).
The scale had a high internal consistency supported by a Cronbach’s 움 of .97.

Procedure

Approval to conduct the study was obtained from the university and
public high school system research review boards. The data collection was

Table I. Oblique Rotated Pattern Matrix from Principal Axis Factor Analysis of MSPSS Items
Factor
Significant
MSPSS item Family Friends Other
Family
3. My family really tries to help me. ⫺.84 .00 .08
4. I get the emotional help & support ⫺.80 ⫺.19 .25
I need from my family.
8. I can talk about my problems with ⫺.77 .10 ⫺.05
my family.
11. My family is willing to help me make ⫺.89 .15 ⫺.11
decisions.
Friends
6. My friends really try to help me. ⫺.04 .66 .14
7. I can count on my friends when things ⫺.03 .75 .01
go wrong.
9. I have friends with whom I can share ⫺.02 .83 .06
my joys and sorrows.
12. I can talk about my problems with my .01 .90 ⫺.01
friends.
Significant Other
1. There is a special person who is around ⫺.08 .05 .67
when I am in need.
2. There is a special person with whom I .03 .02 .92
can share joys and sorrows.
5. I have a special person who is a real .05 .10 .85
source of comfort to me.
10. There is a special person in my life
who cares about my feelings. ⫺.10 .01 .78
MSPSS in Urban Adolescents 395

coordinated with the assistance of health teachers. Students in seven health

classes in one school and four health classes in another school were asked
to participate. They were informed of the study’s purpose, the voluntary
nature of the study, and the need to acquire parental consents. Parental
consent forms were given to those students who were interested in partici-
pating.
Data collection occurred over a 2-week period at one school, which
had a 79% participation rate, and over a 1-month period at the other school,
which had a 30% participation rate. Students at the second school did not
return consent forms within the time period requested, so additional time
was allowed for data collection. The lower participation rate at the second
school was due, in part, to that school’s requirement that school personnel,
rather than the researcher, be primarily involved in the data collection
process. The investigator was allowed to administer and collect the ques-
tionnaires directly from the school with the higher participation rate. How-
ever, despite the discordance in participation rates, the two schools did not
differ significantly in terms of scores on the MSPSS and its subscales or on
other key study variables. Scores were therefore aggregated across schools
for the analyses.
Questionnaires were administered in classrooms or the media center
(library). Before administering the questionnaires, the students were again
informed of the voluntary nature of the study and the anonymity of re-
sponses. They were told not to write their names on the questionnaires.
After data collection, students were invited to ask questions related to the
study or items on the questionnaire.

RESULTS

Descriptive Statistics

The means and standard deviation of the MSPSS and the three subscales
for the urban adolescent sample are as follows: Total scale (M ⫽ 5.55, SD ⫽
1.20), Family (M ⫽ 5.33, SD ⫽ 1.48), Friends (M ⫽ 5.42, SD ⫽ 1.42), and
Significant Other (M ⫽ 5.9, SD ⫽ 1.30). Subscale means by race/gender sub-
groups are presented in Table II. To evaluate potential race and gender ef-
fects, a race (African-American, European-American) ⫻ gender (Male, Fe-
male) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was computed for each of the three
subscales. Results indicated no significant race or gender effects on the Fam-
ily subscale. However, European-Americans reported significantly more
support (M ⫽ 5.8) than African-Americans (M ⫽ 5.4) on the Friends subscale
[F(1,192) ⫽ 5.1, p ⬍ .05]. Similarly, females reported more support from
396 Canty-Mitchell and Zimet

Table II. MSPSS Means and Standard Deviations by Race/Gender Subgroupsa

African-American European-American
Male Female Male Female
MSPSS subscale (n ⫽ 50) (n ⫽ 97) (n ⫽ 23) (n ⫽ 26)
Family 5.3 (1.4) 5.5 (1.3) 5.5 (1.6) 5.1 (1.8)
Friends 5.0 (1.4) 5.6 (1.3) 5.6 (1.5) 6.0 (1.1)
Significant Other 5.6 (1.4) 6.1 (1.0) 5.6 (1.7) 5.9 (1.4)
Total scale 5.3 (1.2) 5.7 (1.0) 5.6 (1.5) 5.6 (1.2)
a
Sample does not include individuals who reported race/ethnicity other than African-American
or European-American.

friends (M ⫽ 5.6) than males (M ⫽ 5.2) [F(1,192) ⫽ 4.7, p ⬍ .05]. Although

there was no significant effect for race on the Significant Other subscale, fe-
males reported significantly more significant other support (M ⫽ 6.1) than
males (M ⫽ 5.6) [F(1,192) ⫽ 4.0, p ⬍ .05]. There were no significant two way
interactions for any of the analyses.
The Flesch–Kincaid formula (Grammatik, 1994) was used to assess
the readability of the MSPSS. Results indicated that comprehension of
MSPSS items requires a fourth-grade reading level.

Factorial Results

Using SPSS Professional Statistics for Windows (Norusis, 1994), factors

were extracted with a common factors approach (principal axis extraction),
a procedure that is recommended for the identification of latent variables
in item analysis (Floyd & Widaman, 1995; Gorsuch, 1997). This approach
typically results in the identification of the same number of factors as
confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling (Gorsuch,
1997). In the present study, correlations among the three factors ranged
from r ⫽ .53 for Friends with Family to r ⫽ .66 for Friends with Significant
Other. The principal axis factor solution was subjected to an oblique rota-
tion, which is recommended when factors are intercorrelated (Floyd &
Widaman, 1995; Gorsuch, 1997). Consistent with factor analysis results
from prior studies (Cecil et al., 1995; Dahlem et al., 1991; Kazarian &
McCabe, 1991; Zimet et al., 1988, 1990), three factors were extracted, which
coincided with the MSPSS Family, Friends, and Significant Other subscales.
The factors combined to account for 79.3% of the variance. The oblique
rotated factor pattern matrix indicated that all items loaded most highly
(.66 or better) on their respective subscales, with minimal cross-loadings
(all less than .26). See Table I for the factor pattern matrix loadings of the
MSPSS items. Comparable results were obtained for the African-American
MSPSS in Urban Adolescents 397

and female subsamples. Factor analyses were not computed for the Euro-
pean-American or male adolescents due to the relatively small sample sizes
of those subgroups.

Reliability

To assess internal reliability, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was calcu-

lated for the total MSPSS and for each subscale. Coefficient 움 for the 12-
item MSPSS was .93. The Family, Friends, and Significant Other subscales
demonstrated 움’s of .91, .89, and .91 respectively. Comparable coefficient
움’s were obtained for the four race/gender subgroups, with values ranging
from .85 for the Friends subscale with African-American males to .95 for
the Family subscale with European-American males.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity of the Family subscale was evaluated first by

computing correlation coefficients between the AFCS and the three MSPSS
subscales, then testing to determine if differences among the correlations
were statistically significant. Our expectation was that the AFCS–Family
subscale correlation would be significantly stronger than the correlations
of the AFCS with either the Friends or the Significant Other subscale. The
AFCS correlated significantly with the MSPSS Family subscale (r ⫽ .76,
p ⬍ .001), Friends subscale (r ⫽ .33, p ⬍ .001), and Significant Other
subscale (r ⫽ .48, p ⬍ .001). The correlation of the AFCS with the Friends
subscale was significantly stronger than the correlations with the Friends
(t ⫽ 10.44, p ⬍ .001) and the Significant Other (t ⫽ 7.74, p ⬍ .001) subscales,
demonstrating discriminant validity for the Family subscale of the MSPSS.
This same pattern of results was found for each race/gender subgroup.

DISCUSSION

Results of the present study offer confirmation that the MSPSS is a

reliable and valid instrument. Factor analysis confirmed the three-factor
structure proposed by Zimet et al. (1988) in their original study and sup-
ported in subsequent studies. In addition, urban adolescents were able to
differentiate among the three sources of support in the MSPSS: family,
friends, and a significant other.
The results also indicate that the scale, and the three subscales, demon-
398 Canty-Mitchell and Zimet

strated excellent internal consistency overall and across race and gender
subgroups when used with this urban adolescent sample. This set of findings
is consistent with earlier evaluations of MSPSS reliability across diverse
samples.
Gender comparisons indicated that female adolescents reported more
support from friends and a significant other than their male counterparts,
a result consistent with other social support research (Cauce et al., 1982)
and with prior research with the MSPSS (Zimet et al., 1988). In addition,
European-American adolescents reported more support from friends than
African-American adolescents. These sets of findings are of particular con-
cern given that St. Lawrence et al. (1994), in a study of African-American
adolescents, found that males with lower levels of social support were more
likely to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors. In future research, it will be
important to confirm the gender- and race-based findings in other groups
of urban adolescents.
The moderately strong correlation of the Family Support subscale
with the Adolescent Family Caring Scale (AFCS) supported further the
construct validity of the MSPSS. Moreover, the correlation of the Family
Support subscale with the AFCS was significantly stronger than the correla-
tions of Friends Support and Significant Other Support with the AFCS.
This set of correlations confirmed the ability of the MSPSS to discriminate
among Family, Friend, and Significant Other support in urban adolescent
samples. This issue is important, as Cauce et al. (1982) noted that different
domains of social support may have differential effects on adjustment and
functioning. Although the MSPSS–AFCS correlations provide some valida-
tion of the MSPSS and its subscales, in future research it will be important
to subject the MSPSS to a more rigorous and comprehensive evaluation
of validity (e.g., the multitrait–multimethod matrix approach).
Urban and largely African-American adolescents are a group at risk
for many social, psychological, and physical health problems. Yet prior
research studies have often neglected this population (Graham, 1992) and/
or used instruments developed and standardized on middle-class, white
samples to address questions that may be culturally specific (Hughes, Seid-
man, & Williams, 1993). It is important when conducting research with a
particular subgroup to use instruments that have had their validity and
reliability demonstrated with research participants from the target popula-
tion. The current study demonstrates that the MSPSS is a valid and reliable
measure of perceived social support in an urban and largely African-Ameri-
can adolescent sample. In conjunction with prior research, the findings
suggest that the MSPSS can be used with confidence across a wide range
of populations that vary on the basis of age, race, socioeconomic status,
gender, and/or nationality.
MSPSS in Urban Adolescents 399

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