Confirmatory factor analysis of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List

Cohen and Hoberman (1983) designed the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL) to measure the perceived availability of four relatively independent social support resources and thus to provide tests of stress-buffering hypotheses. The utility of the ISEL for such tests requires evidence that it actually measures distinct functional support dimensions. A confirmatory factor analysis of the ISEL for 133 college students showed that a four-factor model provided a reasonable fit to the data, but the large correlations among the four factors were strongly suggestive of a general, second-order social support factor. However, scoring the ISEL as a unidimensional measure only would result in the loss of unique information contained in the four subscales. Researchers should therefore follow Cohen and Hoberman's procedure of analyzing ISEL subscale scores and the total score.