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Social Support Scales: A Methodological Note

Schizophrenia BulletinPublished 1 January 1981Open access
Nan Lin, Alfred Dean, Walter M. Ensel
Citations136
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score2.14
SNIP1.67
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TL;DR

The authors attempt to conceptualize social support and assess the reliability and validity of its various measures, and then evaluate the ability of social support, along with stressors, to explain psychiatric symptoms.

Abstract

The relationship between social support and depression has implications for researchers studying schizophrenia. In this article, the authors attempt to conceptualize social support and assess the reliability and validity of its various measures. They then evaluate the ability of social support, along with stressors, to explain psychiatric symptoms. Representative data from a community survey of adults, ages 17-70, suggest that social support measures show strong relationships to depression and other psychiatric symptoms. The implications of these and other findings for the study of schizophrenia are discussed.

Keywords

PsychologyMedicine