What question did this study set out to answer?

To identify methodological issues underlying contradictory evidence in social support and health research and to validate a standard social support scale for population-level multivariate analyses.

April 1, 1994Journal of Epidemiology & Community HealthOpen Access

Measurement issues in research on social support and health.

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Authors

KDKathryn DeanUniversity of South Florida EHE HolstUniversity of Copenhagen SKSvend KreinerUniversity of Copenhagen

Discussion

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Implication

Cross-sectional validation study reveals severe item bias in standard social support scales among US adults, indicating composite indices distort health-related findings.

Key Points

To identify methodological issues underlying contradictory evidence in social support and health research and to validate a standard social support scale for population-level multivariate analyses.
Secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data from a multistage cluster sample of 1,755 US adults aged 20 to 64 years.
Evaluated the construct validity of social support subscales using psychometric models based on item response theory and graph theory.
Extensive item bias was identified across all items in the group membership subscale, with work-related group items severely confounding the effects of education, employment status, and household income.
Item bias was observed within the sociability subscale, and confounding increased when marital status was integrated into an intimate contacts subscale.
The composite social network measure was determined to be psychometrically invalid, leading to substantial distortion in multivariate analyses evaluating social support and health outcomes.

Cite This Study

Dean et al. (1994) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8c425329efb9ec64c46da4 https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.48.2.201

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Implication

Cross-sectional validation study reveals severe item bias in standard social support scales among US adults, indicating composite indices distort health-related findings.

Measurement issues in research on social support and health.

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Measurement issues in research on social support and health.

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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