Purpose
The ISSB is designed to assess the amount of perceived social support, per self-report of specific supportive actions, received over the previous month.
Link to Instrument
Acronym
ISSB
Primary Image
Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors
Discover Careers at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
We're hiring! Browse jobs and apply today.
Populations
Key Descriptions
- The ISSB is a self-administered survey.
- The ISSB has 40 items that reflect a range of socially supportive behaviors.
- There are six main functions of support: material aid, behavioral assistance, intimate interaction, guidance, feedback, and positive social interaction.
- The items are scored using a five-point scale reflecting the frequency of receipt of each supportive behavior during the previous month (1=not at all, 2=once or twice, 3=about once a week, 4=several times a week, 5=about every day).
- ISSB scores are calculated by summing or averaging responses to individual items.
- Research by Finch, et. al. (1997) indicates that ISSB is not a unidimensional scale. Subscales should be scored individually.
Number of Items
40
Equipment Required
- Answer Form
- Pencil
Time to Administer
10-15 minutes
Required Training
No TrainingInstrument Reviewers
Initial instrument review completed by Ashley Gallaway, Roma Mirutenko, and Melissa Ivins-Lukse at the Illinois Institute of Technology (2015). Review and revisions completed by Kristian Nitsch, MS (3/25/2015). Update and review completed by Allison Peipert, 2017.
ICF Domain
EnvironmentMeasurement Domain
EmotionNon-Patient
back to PopulationsInternal Consistency
Jordanian Nurses (Mrayyan, 2009)
Overall internal consistency was Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .93)*
- Guidance: Adequate (Cronbach’s Alpha= .74)
- Emotional Support: Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .80)
- Tangible Assistance: Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .90)*
*Scores higher than .9 may indicate redundancy in the scale questions.
Mixed Conditions
back to PopulationsTest/Retest Reliability
Undergraduate Students (Berrera, Sandler & Ramsay, 1981; measured 2 days apart)
- Adequate to Excellent test-retest reliability across 40 items (r=.441 to .912 ).
- Excellent average test-retest reliability (r= .88)
Internal Consistency
Undergraduate Students (Stokes, 1985)
- Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .93)*
(Barrera, Sandler, & Ramsay, 1981)
- Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .93 and .94, for the first and second testing session respectively)*
(Emmons & Colby, 1995)
- Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .94)*
(Swickert, Rosentreter, Hittner, & Mushrush, 2002)
- Adequate (Cronbach’s Alpha= .73
Chinese University Students (Liang & Bogat, 1995)
- Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .94)*
*Scores higher than .9 may indicate redundancy in the scale questions.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Keller, Feeny, & Zoellner, 2014)
- Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .80)
Migrant Mothers from Mexico (de Leon Siantz, 1990)
- Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .97)*
*Scores higher than .9 may indicate redundancy in the scale questions.
Adolescents (Pretty, Conroy, Dugay, Fowler, & Williams, 1996)
- Directive Guidance: Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .85)
- Support: Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .86)
- Tangible Assistance: Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .80)
Pregnant/Parenting & Non-pregnant/Non-Parenting Adolescents (Crase, Hockaday, & McCarville, 2007)
- Excellent (Cronbach’s Alpha= .93)*
*Scores higher than .9 may indicate redundancy in the scale questions.
Construct Validity
Undergraduate Students (Berrera, Sandler & Ramsay, 1981)
- Correlation with social support network size (Adequate, r= .322 to .401)
- Correlation with Moo's Family Environment Cohesion subscale (Adequate, r = .359)
- Item-total correlation (Poor-Excellent, r= -.82 to .69, suggesting that not all social support items are assessing the same construct
(Brock et al., 1996; Sarason et al., 1987; Pretorius, 1997; Pretorius and Diedricks, 1993)
- Correlation with the Social Support Questionnaire-Satisfaction Short form (Poor, r= .17 to .260)
(Cohen & Hoberman, 1983)
- Correlation with occurrence of physical symptoms (Poor, r= .22)
- Correlation with frequency of positive life events (Poor, r= .28)
- Correlation with frequency of negative life events (Poor, r= .28)
Mixed Conditions
back to PopulationsConstruct Validity
Haber, Cohen, Lucas, and Baltes; 2007)
Study
N
r
Strength
Scale
Sample
Barrera and Baca (1990)
78
0.29
Poor
Arizona Social Suppport Interview Scale- Satisfaction Subscale (ASSIS-S)
Mental Health Outpatients
Sandler and Barrera (1984)
45
0.01
Poor
Arizona Social Suppport Interview Scale- Satisfaction Subscale (ASSIS-S)
Undergraduate Students
Cohen and Hoberman (1983)
57
0.46
Adequate
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
Undergraduate Students
Cohen, McGowan, Fooskas, and Rose (1984)
92
0.46
Adequate
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
Undergraduate Students
Emmons and Colby
105
0.46
Adequate
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
Undergraduate Students
Lakey and Cassady (1990)
101
0.29
Poor
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
Undergraduate Students
Lakey , Tardiff, and Drew (1994)
124
0.49
Adequate
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
Students
Newland and Furnham (1999)
117
0.25
Poor
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
Undergraduate Students
Swickert et al. (2002)
99
0.32
Adequate
Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL)
Trauma Survivors
Waggener and Galassi (1993)
43
0.34
Adequate
Social Support Inventory (SSI)
Separated Adults
Waggener and Galassi (1993)
47
0.22
Poor
Social Support Inventory (SSI)
Separated Adults
Brown, Brady, Lent, Wolfert, and Hall (1987)
99
0.15
Poor
Social Support Inventory Subjective Satisfaction subscale (SSI-SS)
Undergraduate Students
Brock, Sarason, Sarason, and Pierce (1996)
197
0.26
Adequate
Social Support Questionnaire- Satisfaction short form (SSQ-S)
Undergraduate Students
Pretorius (1997)
166
0.17
Poor
Social Support Questionnaire- Satisfaction short form (SSQ-S)
Undergraduate Students
Pretorius and Diedricks (1993)
242
0.17
Poor
Social Support Questionnaire- Satisfaction short form (SSQ-S)
Undergraduate Students
Sarason et al. (1987)
217
0.24
Poor
Social Support Questionnaire- Satisfaction short form (SSQ-S)
Undergraduate Students
Furchner (1998)
111
0.64
Excellent
Social Support Questionnaire Short Record- Satisfaction short form (SSQSR-S)
Students
Cheng (1999)
57
0.3
Adequate
Appraisal Scale of Social Relations (ASSR)
University Students
Cummins (1988)
112
0.22
Poor
Social Provisions Scale- Guidance Subscale (SPS-G)
Students
Kaul and Lakey (2003)
60
0.32
Adequate
Social Provisions Scale (SPS)
Mothers of Infants with Heart Defects
Lakey et al. (2002)
100
0.53
Adequate
Quality of Relationships Inventory- Support Scale (QRI-S)
Caregivers of parents with Alzheimer's Disease
Norris and Kaniasty (1996)
404
0.32
Adequate
Combination of ISEL and SPS items
Trauma Survivors
O'Reilly (1995)
60
0.57
Adequate
Social Support Appraisal Scale (SS-A)
Psychiatric Inpatients
Oritt, Paul, and Behrman (1985)
146
0.46
Adequate
Perceived Support Network Inventory (PSNI)
Undergraduate students,
Counseling Center Clients
Bibliography
Barrera, M. Jr., & Baca, L. M. (1990). Recipient reactions to social support: Contributions of enacted support, conflicted support, and network orientation. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7, 541–551.
Barrera Jr, M., Sandier, I. N., & Ramsay, T. B. (1981). Preliminary Development of a Scale of Social Support: Studies on College Students I. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9(4).
Brock, D. M., Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B. R., & Pierce, G. R. (1996). Simultaneous assessment of perceived global and relationship specific support. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 13, 143–152.
Brown, S. D., Brady, T., Lent, R. W., Wolfert, J., & Hall, S. (1987). Perceived social support among college students: Three studies of the psychometric characteristics and counseling uses of the Social Support Inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 337–354.
Cohen, S., & Hoberman, H. M. (1983). Positive events and social supports as buffers of life change stress. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 13, 99–125.
Cohen, L., McGowan, J., Fooskas, S., & Rose, S. (1984). Positive life events and social support and the relationship between life stress and psychological disorder. American Journal of Community Psychology, 12(5), 567-587.
Crase, S., Hockaday, C., & Mccarville, P. (2006). Brief report: Perceptions of positive and negative support: Do they differ for pregnant/parenting adolescents and nonpregnant, nonparenting adolescents? Journal of Adolescence, 30, 505-512.
Emmons, R., Colby, P. (1995). Emotional conflict and well-being: Relation to perceived availability, daily utilization, and observer reports of social support. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(5), 947-959.
Forbes, A., & Roger, D. (1999). Stress, social support and fear of disclosure. British Journal of Health Psychology, 4, 165-179.
Jacobson, R., & Robins, C. (1989). Social dependency and social support in bulimic and nonbulimic women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 8(6), 665-670.
Keller, S., Zoellner, L., & Feeny, N. (2010). Understanding factors associated with early therapeutic alliance in PTSD treatment: Adherence, childhood sexual abuse history, and social support. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(6), 974-979.
Keller, S., Feeny, N., & Zoellner, L. (2013). Depression sudden gains and transient depression spikes during treatment for PTSD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(1), 102-111.
Lakey, B., & Cassady, P. B. (1990). Cognitive processes in perceived social support. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 337–343.
Lakey, B., Tardiff, T. A., & Drew, J. B. (1994). Negative social interactions: Assessment and relation to social support, cognition, and psychological distress. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 13, 42–62.
Leavy, R., & Adams, E. (1986). Feminism as a correlate of self-esteem, self-acceptance, and social support among lesbians. Psychology of Women Quarterly, (10), 321-326.
Mrayyan, M. (2009). Job stressors and social support behaviors: Comparing intensive care units to wards in Jordan. Contemporary Nurse, 31 (2), 163-175.
Newland, J., & Furnham, A. (1999). Perceived availability of social support. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 659–663.
Pretty, G., Conroy, C., Dugay, J., Fowler, K., & Williams, D. (1996). Sense of community and its relevance to adolescents of all ages. Journal of Community Psychology, 24(4), 365-379.
Sandler, I. N., & Barrera, M. Jr. (1984). Toward a multimethod approach to assessing the effects of social support. American Journal of Community Psychology, 12, 37–52.
Sandler, I., & Lakey, B. (1982). Locus of control as a stress moderator: The role of control perceptions and social support. American Journal of Community Psychology, 10(1), 65-80.
Siantz, M. (1990). Maternal acceptance/rejection of Mexican migrant mothers. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 14, 245-254.
Stokes, J. (1985). The relation of social network and individual difference variables to loneliness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(4), 981-990.
Swickert, R., Rosentreter, C., Hittner, J. & Mushrush, J. (2002) Extravertion, social support process, and stress. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 877-891.
Waggener, N. M., & Galassi, J. P. (1993). The relation of frequency, satisfaction, and type of socially supportive behaviors to psychological adjustment in marital separation. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 21, 139–159.