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Validation of a Social Networks and Support Measurement Tool for Use in International Aging Research: The International Mobility in Aging Study

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new instrument to assess social networks and social support (IMIAS-SNSS) for different types of social ties in an international sample of older adults. The study sample included n = 1995 community dwelling older people aged between 65 and 74 years from the baseline of the longitudinal International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS). In order to measure social networks for each type of social tie, participants were asked about the number of contacts, the number of contacts they see at least once a month or have a very good relationship with, or speak with at least once a month. For social support, participants had to rate the level of social support provided by the four types of contacts for five Likert scale items. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to determine the goodness of fit of the measurement models. Satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices confirmed the satisfactory factorial structure of the IMIAS-SNSS instrument. Reliability coefficients were 0.80, 0.81, 0.85, and 0.88 for friends, children, family, and partner models, respectively. The models were confirmed by CFA for each type of social tie. Moreover, IMIAS-SNSS detected gender differences in the older adult populations of IMIAS. These results provide evidence supporting that IMIAS-SNSS is a psychometrically sound instrument and of its validity and reliability for international populations of older adults.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Aging, New Emerging Team; gender differences in immobility; reference number: AAM 108751. We are grateful to all the older adults who participated in this research. We would also like to thank our universities and institutes for providing continuous support and funding, particularly The Canadian Institutes of Health and the Institut de Recherche en Santé Publique de l’Université de Montréal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of Montreal (ESPUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Tamer Ahmed, François Béland & Maria Victoria Zunzunegui

  2. University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Tamer Ahmed & Georges K. Koné

  3. Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, USA

    Emmanuelle Belanger

  4. Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Afshin Vafaei & Beatriz Alvarado

  5. Research Institute of Public Health of the University of Montreal (IRSPUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    François Béland

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  1. Tamer Ahmed
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  2. Emmanuelle Belanger
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  4. Georges K. Koné
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  7. Maria Victoria Zunzunegui
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IMIAS Research Group

Contributions

AT supervised the data analysis and wrote the paper; KG performed the data analysis. BE, VA, ABE, BF and ZMV contributed to interpretation of results and revised the paper.

*In addition to the co-authors of this article on the International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS), the following researchers contributed at different steps of the study conception, design, data collection and analyses, listed by their academic affiliation: Freeman EE, at the Université de Montréal; Deshpande N, Garcia A, Philips S at Queens University; Curcio CL at Universidad de Caldas; Guerra R at Universidade Federale do Rio Grande do Norte, and Ylli A at the Albanian National Institute of Public Health.

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Table 6 The SNSS scale in the five languages of the IMIAS study
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Ahmed, T., Belanger, E., Vafaei, A. et al. Validation of a Social Networks and Support Measurement Tool for Use in International Aging Research: The International Mobility in Aging Study. J Cross Cult Gerontol 33, 101–120 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-018-9344-x

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