The development of a self-report measure of subjectively assessed social support, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), is described. Subjects included 136 female and 139 male university undergraduates. Three subscales, each addressing a different source of support, were identified and found to have strong factorial validity: (a) Family, (b) Friends, and (c) Significant Other. In addition, the research demonstrated that the MSPSS has good internal and test-retest reliability as well as moderate construct validity. As predicted, high levels of perceived social support were associated with low levels of depression and anxiety symptomatology as measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Gender differences with respect to the MSPSS are also presented. The value of the MSPSS as a research instrument is discussed, along with implications for future research.

The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

This article explores the possibility that romantic love is an attachment process--a biosocial process by which affectional bonds are formed between adult lovers, just as affectional bonds are formed earlier in life between human infants and their parents. Key components of attachment theory, developed by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and others to explain the development of affectional bonds in infancy, were translated into terms appropriate to adult romantic love. The translation centered on the three major styles of attachment in infancy--secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent--and on the notion that continuity of relationship style is due in part to mental models (Bowlby's "inner working models") of self and social life. These models, and hence a person's attachment style, are seen as determined in part by childhood relationships with parents. Two questionnaire studies indicated that relative prevalence of the three attachment styles is roughly the same in adulthood as in infancy, the three kinds of adults differ predictably in the way they experience romantic love, and attachment style is related in theoretically meaningful ways to mental models of self and social relationships and to relationship experiences with parents. Implications for theories of romantic love are discussed, as are measurement problems and other issues related to future tests of the attachment perspective.

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Romantic Love Conceptualized as an Attachment Process

The theory of Planned Behaviour is one of the models most frequently used in the literature to explore pro-environmental behaviour including recycling, travel mode choice, energy consumption, water conservation, food choice, and ethical investment (Stern, 2000; Staats, 2003). Armitage and Conner (2001) identified its application in 154 different contexts. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1988) assumes that the best prediction of behaviour is given by asking people if they are intending to behave in a certain way. Here we note that the intention will not express itself in behaviour if it is physically impossible to perform the behaviour or if unexpected barriers stand in the way. Assuming intention can explain behaviour, how can intention be explained?. According to Azjen, three determinants explain behavioural intention: 1. The attitude (opinions of oneself about the behaviour); 2. The subjective norm (opinions of others about the behaviour); 3. The perceived behavioural control (self-efficacy towards the behaviour).

The Theory of Planned Behaviour

The initial study describing the development of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) indicated that it was a psychometrically sound instrument (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988). The current study attempted to extend the initial findings by demonstrating the internal reliability, factorial validity, and subscale validity of the MSPSS using three different subject groups: (a) 265 pregnant women, (b) 74 adolescents living in Europe with their families, and (c) 55 pediatric residents. The MSPSS was found to have good internal reliability across subject groups. In addition, strong factorial validity was demonstrated, confirming the three-subscale structure of the MSPSS: Family, Friends, and Significant Other. Finally, strong support was also found for the validity of the Family and Significant Other subscales.

Psychometric characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.

The article offers a descriptive analysis of strategies of crime control in contemporary Britain and elsewhere. It argues that the normality of high crime rates and the limitations of criminal justice agencies have created a new predicament for governments. The response to this predicament has been recurring ambivalence that helps explain the volatile and contradictory character of recent crime control policy. The article identifies adaptive strategies (responsibilization, defining deviance down, and redefining organizational success) and strategies of denial (the punitive sovereign response), as well as the different criminologies that accompany them.

THE LIMITS OF THE SOVEREIGN STATE Strategies of Crime Control in Contemporary Society

Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

The first of two volumes geared to helping novice and experienced practitioners set up centers for the day treatment of emotionally disturbed children. Volume 1 examines in detail the features of the center at the U. of Colorado, in operation since 1962. Volume 2 considers a number of theoretical an

A model in action

The intellectual performances of children with a variety of psychiatric disorders were examined and compared with the findings from a similar study by Hodges and Plow (1990). Mean IQ scores were in the average range for both study samples, and no significant differences were found in WISC-R summary scores. Nevertheless, the Hodges and Plow findings were only partially corroborated. They observed, for instance, a relative deficit in verbal abilities for conduct-disordered children and lower IQ scores for children with anxiety disorders vs. children with all other disorders. Our replication study found no significant differences among the disorder groups for any of the scores examined. Possible explanations for the divergence in findings are discussed.

Gordon K. Farley

Papers

The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

Psychometric characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.

Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

A model in action

Comparisons of intellectual performance among children with psychiatric disorders.