An eight-item scale measuring an individual's general sense of interpersonal closeness and belonging to the broader social world. All items are reverse-keyed, assessing the degree to which a person feels disconnected, distant, and excluded from social groups and society at large. High scores (after reverse scoring) reflect a strong sense of social belonging, while low scores indicate feelings of social isolation. Grounded in counselling psychology and belongingness theory, the scale has been applied in consumer research to examine how social disconnection motivates compensatory product preferences and interpersonal influence.
6-point Likert (strongly disagree / strongly agree)
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Single reliability estimate from consumer research application: α = .93 — Jiang et al. (2010, Journal of Consumer Research 36(5), 778–791). All 8 items are reverse-scored; higher raw scores indicate greater disconnectedness. VALIDITY: Not examined by Jiang et al. (2010). Original scale development (Lee & Robbins 1995) involved a structured item generation process from 45 candidate items, validated with 313 undergraduates; validity evidence provided in the original publication. NOTE: This is a subscale of a two-part instrument — the companion Social Assurance scale assesses related but distinct aspects of social belonging. Consumer researchers typically use this subscale in isolation.
Lee, Richard M. and Steven B. Robbins (1995). Measuring belongingness: The social connectedness and the social assurance scales. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 42(2), 232–241.
Free access to 2455+ psychometric scales at PsychScales