Overview

Distinguish perceived social support from three sources: family, friends, and significant others.

Scoring and Interpretation

Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = very strongly disagree; 7 = very strongly agree). A total score is calculated by summing the responses of all items (range 12–84), with higher scores indicating higher levels of perceived social support.

Citation

Zimet, Gregory D., Nancy W. Dahlem, Sara G. Zimet, and Gordon K. Farley. 1988. "The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support." Journal of Personality Assessment 52, (1): 30-41.

Dahlem, Nancy W., Gregory D. Zimet, and Robin R. Walker. 1991. "The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support: A Confirmation Study." Journal of Clinical Psychology 47(6): 756-761.

Context and Applications to Child Nutrition

Pakistan 
Huma, Z., Ayella Gillani, Fakhira Shafique, Alina Rashid, Bushra Mahjabeen, Hashim Javed, Duolao Wang, Atif Rahman, and Syed Usman Hamdani. 2021. "Protocol: Evaluating the Impact of a Common Elements-Based Intervention to Improve Maternal Psychological Well-Being and Mother–Infant Interaction in Rural Pakistan: Study Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial." BMJ Open 11(7).

Rahman, Atif, Hermione Lovel, James Bunn, Zafar Iqbal, and Richard Harrington. 2004. "Mothers’ Mental Health and Infant Growth: A Case–Control Study from Rawalpindi, Pakistan." Child: Care, Health and Development 30(1): 21-27.

Adaptations

N/A

Formative Research

N/A