Apoyo social en universitarios españoles de primer año: Propiedades psicométricas del Social Support Questionnaire-Short Form (SSQ6) y el Social Provisions Scale (SPS)

Perceived social support is a multifaceted construct conceptualized as one’s cognitive
appraisal as to the existence of a connection to others, based on trust, on whom one can
rely on when necessary. The aim of this paper is to examine the psychometric properties
of perceived social support, using the following scales: Social Support QuestionnaireShort
Form (SSQ6) and Social Provisions Scale (SPS), on a sample of 855 first year
university students – 575 females and 280 males – enrolled in 16 professional degrees at
the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). The SSQ6 Scale assesses the dimensions
of perceived support availability and satisfaction, whilst the SPS Scale assesses its
social support functions. The factor analysis conducted confirms the SSQ6 Scale’s twodimensional
model and the SPS Scale’s six-factor structure. Internal consistency of
both scales is satisfactory, as is the evidence of validity obtained from the correlations
between the two scales and their subscales. The results reveal that the Spanish version
of the SSQ6 and SPS scales are reliable and valid measurements for assessing perceived
social support amongst university students