Measuring perceived social support in Mexican American youth: Psychometric properties of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support

The utility of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) was investigated within a sample of 290 Mexican American adolescents. Results suggested that the three-subscale structure (Family, Friends, and Significant Other) of the MSPSS was confirmed, and adequate internal reliability for the three scales was demonstrated as well. Support for construct validity was found by evaluating correlations from a perceived family support subscale as well as a satisfaction with family measure. It appears that the MSPSS is a useful measure for assessing perceived social support in Latino youth and as such can be used to further our understanding about social support from different sources in Latino adolescents.