The Validity of the Student Academic Support Scale: Associations with Social Support and Relational Closeness

This study validates the Student Academic Support Scale (SASS), a 15-item multidimensional measure assessing informational, esteem, motivational, and venting support. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed good model fit and replicated prior CFA tests (Mazer & Thompson, 2011 Mazer , J. P. , & Thompson , B. ( 2011 ). Student academic support: A validity test . Communication Research Reports , 28 , 214 – 224 . doi: doi:10.1080/08824096.2011.586074 [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Thompson & Mazer, 2009 Thompson , B. , & Mazer , J. P. (2009). College student ratings of student academic support: Frequency, importance, and modes of communication. Communication Education , 58, 433–458. doi: doi:10.1080/03634520902930440 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Correlations between student academic support and traditional social support measures provided convergent validity evidence. A positive association between student academic support and relational closeness suggests that the SASS construct is related to other theoretically similar constructs, providing evidence for construct validity. Discriminant validity evidence was established, suggesting that the SASS is distinct from measures of traditional social support.