Brief scales for measurement of functional social support and psychological resources in French-speaking adults

Summary

¶¶Objectives: Psychological resources and social support are important determinants of health, but brief and validated scales measuring these dimensions in French are lacking.¶Methods: Instruments measuring self-esteem and mastery, and affective and confident social support were administered by mail to 1 257 university students. Factor analysis, internal consistency statistics, and correlations with related variables were used to derive abbreviated scales and confirm their validity.¶Results: Factor analysis and item reduction yielded four brief scales: mastery (4 items), self-esteem (4 items), affective social support (2 items), and problem-solving social support (4 items). All four scales had few missing items and adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's α>0.70). All scores were associated with self-reported general health, and with visits to mental health specialists. Scores of self-esteem and mastery were also associated with physician visits (inversely), and confidence in finishing studies and finding a job. Scores of affective and confident social support correlated with the intensity of social activities and the number of people the respondent could count on.¶Conclusions: The abbreviated scales retained adequate psychometric properties and may be usefully applied in health research among similar French-speaking populations.