Helpful, Supportive and Sensitive: Measuring the Evaluation of Enacted Social Support in Personal Relationships

Abstract

Several recent studies have sought to identify characteristics of better and worse attempts at support provision; however, there has been little explicit theoretical attention to the ways in which recipients evaluate enacted support. We developed a multidimensional scale to measure these evaluations. Study 1 asked 122 adults to interpret the meaning of three adjectives (helpful, supportive, sensitive) used in previous research. Although the meanings of these terms overlap, respondents associated helpful with problem-solving utility, supportive with relational assurance, and sensitivity with emotional awareness. Study 2 asked 396 students to rate a recalled conversation on 30 semantic-differential-type scales derived from Study 1. These ratings provided a basis for selecting 12 items to form valid and reliable scales of problem-solving utility, relational assurance, and emotional awareness. Study 3 provides independent validation of factor structure, scale reliability and validity, and conceptual distinctiveness. We discuss a variety of research questions for which this multidimensional scale may be a useful tool.

The role of interpersonal conflict and perceived social support in nonsuicidal self-injury in daily life.

“…Perceived social support-The Goldsmith Social Support Scale (Goldsmith, McDermott, & Alexander, 2000) uses 12 adjective pairs to assess perceptions of support (e.g., "My romantic partner was . .…”

Characterizing Interpersonal Difficulties Among Young Adults Who Engage in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Using a Daily Diary

“…Contact was defined as inclusive of contact via email messages, phone calls, text messages, social media, and inperson interaction. If participants answered in the affirmative, they completed the Goldsmith Social Support Scale (GSSS; Goldsmith, McDermott, & Alexander, 2000) to rate their satisfaction with the support they received from this individual or group of individuals during that time period. The GSSS contains 12 bipolar adjective pairs (e.g., "upsetting-reassuring," "considerate-inconsiderate"), which are rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale.…”

“…The GSSS has been found to discriminate between different aspects of support in standardized scripts (Goldsmith et al, 2000) and to correlate with measures of relationship satisfaction (r = .56; Logan & Cobb, 2013). Scores indexing perceived support for each source of support (romantic partners, family, and peers) were derived by averaging the 12 items.…”

“Same stuff different day:” A mixed-method study of support seeking on Facebook

“…Perceived supportiveness of responses was assessed using the 12-item Measurement of Enacted Social Support (Goldsmith et al, 2000) scale. Participants indicated to what extent they felt satisfied with the support received from the support seeking Facebook status update using semantic differentials.…”

“…Bodie, Burleson, and Jones (2012) found a connection between evaluations of supportive messages and outcomes, suggesting that the degree to which a supportive message is positively evaluated may affect the outcome of a situation. Additionally, positive evaluations of supportive messages have been associated with coping and relational satisfaction (Goldsmith, McDermott, & Alexander, 2000). Receiving supportive messages from one's social networks has also been associated with increased quality of life (Leung & Lee, 2005).…”