The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the development and testing of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ) and to discuss several issues that have arisen in recent use of the instrument. The NSSQ is a self-administered questionnaire that measures multiple dimensions of social support. Three functional properties--affect, affirmation, and aid--from Kahn's (1979) definition of social support are measured. The network properties of size, stability (duration of relationships), and accessibility (frequency of contact) are also measured, as well as changes in the convoy or support system due to losses of relationships. Nine categories are used to determine sources of support. Graduate students of nursing (N = 130) were used as subjects for several studies to test reliability and validity, and employed adults (N = 136) were used for additional validity testing and to provide normative data. Reliability was established through analysis of internal consistency and test-retest measures taken a week apart. Very high levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability were found for the functional and network properties, and medium levels for the loss items. At a 7-month retesting, medium levels of stability were found, and the instrument was sensitive to changes in the network composition over time. Although the network composition changed, the overall level of functional support remained stable. Validity of the NSSQ was tested in relation to response bias and concurrent, construct, and predictive validity. The results indicated that the instrument is free from the response bias of social desirability. Medium levels of concurrent validity were shown with two other social support instruments. Construct validity was demonstrated by significant associations between NSSQ measures and two interpersonal constructs expected to be related to social support, while no significant relationships were found between the NSSQ measures and an unrelated interpersonal construct. Predictive validity was tested by examining the hypothesis that social support serves as a buffer for life stress. Among the functional properties, the interaction of aid and life stress accounted for 13.2% of the variance in negative mood. Of the network properties, duration of relationships had significant main and interaction effects, accounting together for 19.3% of the variance in negative mood. Normative data from a sample of employed adults provide means and standard deviations for each subscale and variable of the NSSQ, as well as descriptive data about sources of support.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)