Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale

What it measures

Twelve items measure the degree to which an individual feels supported across three distinct relational sources: family (items 1-4), friends (items 5-8), and a significant other (items 9-12). The scale captures both practical assistance and emotional support dimensions within each source, tapping beliefs about availability of help, willingness to assist with decisions, the ability to share difficulties, and having someone to count on. It has been used in consumer and marketing research as a measure of social embeddedness and as a manipulation check in experiments involving social connection.

Representative items

• Original: undergraduate and high school students (Zimet et al. 1988)
• Marketing use: 66 undergraduates at University of Minnesota (Lasaleta et al. 2014)
• Marketing use: 855 U.S. adults online panel (Ruvio et al. 2014)

Citation

Zimet, G. D., Dahlem, N. W., Zimet, S. G., & Farley, G. K. (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52(1), 30-41.