Adaptation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support for Arab American Adolescents

    Authors

    V. Ramaswamy; K. J. Aroian;T. Templin

    Abstract

    The multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) was revised for Arab American adolescents (MSPSS-AA). Items measuring social support from significant others were omitted and items measuring support from school personnel were added based on advice from cultural experts. The sample consisted of 635 Arab American young adolescents in metropolitan Detroit. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the proposed three-factor solution (family, friends, and school personnel). Internal consistency coefficients for the three subscales of family (alpha = 0.63), friends (alpha = 0.75), school personnel (alpha = 0.72) were good. As predicted, perceived support from family, friends, and school personnel were inversely related to self reports of daily hassles and internalizing behavior and positively related to assistance seeking coping, which provides evidence for construct validity. Support for discriminant validity was also demonstrated with significantly larger correlations between the MSPSS-AA Family subscale and daily hassles specific to parents and the MSPSS-AA Friend subscale and daily hassles specific to peers. These finding suggest that the MSPSS-AA is reliable and valid for use with Arab-American adolescents.

    Journal Title

    American Journal of Community Psychology

    Volume

    43

    Issue/Number

    1-2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2009

    Document Type

    Article

    First Page

    49

    Last Page

    56

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000265779700005

    ISSN

    0091-0562

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