Psychometric analysis of the teacher support scale with higher education students

Abstract

The Teacher Support Scale has been used to assess students’ perceived teacher support in compulsory school years. However, the literature requires attention to perceived teacher support in higher education and to the referred measure’s psychometric properties. This study examines the factorial structure, invariance for sex, relations to other variables, and reliability of the Teacher Support Scale with a sample of 262 Portuguese higher education students (Mage = 24.36, SD = 7.46), 133 (50.8%) women and 129 (49.2%) men. Results from confirmatory factor analyses suggested that a two-factor measurement model yielded a good fit to the data. Multi-group analyses indicated configural and metric invariance for women and men. Positive correlations among perceived teacher support and students’ academic experiences were found. The Teacher Support Scale might be useful to assess students’ perceived academic and social teacher support, as well as to sustain psychological practices in higher education.