Undergraduate Family Social Support Scale

Abstract

The Undergraduate Family Social Support Scale (UFSSS), developed by Nadel (2014), is a comprehensive psychological scale designed to measure the perceived levels of social support received by students from their closest family member during their college experience. This instrument moves beyond general measures of support by specifically addressing the unique academic, financial, and personal challenges faced by the undergraduate population. The UFSSS consists of 51 items distributed across three major domains and seventeen sub-factors, providing a highly nuanced assessment of family engagement and assistance.

The scale is crucial for research examining student adjustment, academic persistence, and mental health outcomes in higher education, as it captures both instrumental and emotional aspects of family support. The development process, detailed in Nadel’s Master’s thesis, focused on establishing strong psychometric properties tailored for student populations.

Keywords

Family Support, Social Support, Undergraduate Students, College Adjustment, Psychological Scale, Student Persistence, Financial Support, Academic Support, Nadel 2014

Authors

Sarah Nadel

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Undergraduate Family Social Support Scale (UFSSS) is to provide a reliable and valid measurement tool for quantifying the extent and nature of support perceived by undergraduate students from their immediate family. Prior scales often measured general social support without adequate specificity regarding the unique demands of college life, such as tuition, workload management, and career planning.

The UFSSS addresses this gap by creating items that reflect tangible (instrumental) and intangible (emotional) support mechanisms relevant to the collegiate environment. By delineating support into specific domains—Academic, Financial, and Personal—the instrument allows researchers and counselors to pinpoint specific areas where students are receiving or lacking crucial family assistance.

Construct

The UFSSS measures the construct of Perceived Family Social Support within the context of higher education. This construct is operationalized as the student’s subjective belief that their family member provides care, assistance, advice, and resources necessary for navigating academic success and personal well-being while enrolled in college.

The scale is structured around three overarching domains: Personal Issues (focusing on emotional care, communication, and health), Financial Issues (covering tuition, bills, and personal spending), and Academic Issues (addressing coursework, grades, and future goals). The comprehensive nature of the construct ensures that the measure captures the multidimensional influence of family on student persistence and adjustment.

Validity

As detailed in the instrument’s development methodology (Nadel, 2014), content validity was established through expert review and item generation relevant to the three core domains: Academic, Financial, and Personal. Construct validity was explored through statistical methods, likely involving exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to confirm that the items loaded onto the hypothesized 17 sub-factors and three main factors.

The strong theoretical foundation, based on established models of social support and student development theory, contributed to the scale’s initial structural validity. Further studies subsequent to the thesis would typically be required to confirm predictive and convergent validity against established measures of college adjustment or stress.

Reliability

In the scale development phase, measures of internal consistency were employed to establish the reliability of the UFSSS. High internal consistency, typically measured using Cronbach’s Alpha, was reported across the overall scale and its major sub-dimensions. This indicates that the items within each factor consistently measure the same underlying construct.

The 51-item structure, with multiple items per sub-factor, contributes to the robustness of the measure. The extensive item pool ensures that measurement error is minimized and that the score accurately reflects the student’s perception of family support across various life domains.

Factor Analysis

The development of the UFSSS utilized Factor Analysis to determine the underlying structure of family social support as perceived by undergraduates. The analysis yielded a complex, multi-faceted structure organized under three primary domains, which are further subdivided into 17 specific factors:

• Personal Issues: Relationships (1, 22, 41), Respect (11, 26, 46), Gives Advice (2, 16, 43), Communication (17, 18, 38), Support (3, 10, 51), Love/Care (4, 28, 37), Inquires about life outside of school (32, 34, 49), Physical/Mental Health (9, 19, 40).
• Financial Issues: School Expenses (29, 33, 36), Gas/Groceries/Bills (12, 23, 50), Need for Money (5, 27, 39), Personal Items (13, 31, 47).
• Academic Issues: Inquiry about Progress (15, 21, 42), Shows Support (8, 25, 44), Class Satisfaction (24, 30, 45), Workload (6, 14, 48), Future Goals (7, 20, 35).

This detailed factor structure confirms that family support is not a unitary concept but rather a complex interaction of emotional, instrumental, and informational assistance tailored to the needs of the undergraduate student.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Psychological Scale

Format: 51 items utilizing a 6-point Likert Scale.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Undergraduate University Students

Age Group: Typically 18-25 (Traditional undergraduate age, though applicable to non-traditional students as well).

Population Details: Students enrolled in post-secondary education, focusing on their perception of support from their closest family member.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate their agreement with statements describing actions or inquiries made by their closest family member, using a scale from 1 (Completely Disagree) to 6 (Completely Agree).

Keywords

Psychometrics, Social Support Measurement, College Success, Student Well-being, Nadel, Family Dynamics

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source material.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence is typically directed through the institution where the research was conducted (Ohio State University).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Undergraduate Family Social Support Scale (UFSSS) was developed in 2014 as part of a Master of Arts thesis. Researchers typically obtain permission for use by citing the original thesis. Given its origin in academic research, the scale is generally available for non-commercial academic use, though users should consult the original author or institution for specific licensing details.

The original PDF of the thesis detailing the scale development and psychometrics can be downloaded here: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1402180624&disposition=inline

Reference’s

• Nadel, Sarah. (2014). Developing a Social Support Measurement Instrument: A Methodological Approach to Measuring Undergraduate Perceptions of Social Support. Master of Arts Thesis, Ohio State University.

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Items of the Undergraduate Family Social Support Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

My Closest Family Member . . .

1. asks me how my friends are doing
2. offers advice whenever I need it
3. supports me in all the things I do
4. finds ways to make me feel better
5. asks me if I have enough money
6. asks me if I have a lot of assignments due
7. asks me about my plans after graduation
8. is willing to help me with school assignments
9. asks me if I am eating healthy
10. is always there for me when I need them
11. and I can talk about anything
12. asks me if I have enough money to pay my bills
13. gives me money for personal items
14. asks me if I am keeping up with my assignments
15. asks me how my classes are going
16. gives me advice about my relationships at school
17. calls/texts me on a regular basis
18. tells me about how things are going back home
19. asks me how I am handling stress
20. asks me about my academic goals
21. asks me about my grades
22. asks me how my relationship with my friends are
23. buys me groceries
24. asks me if I like my classes
25. supports my decision to attend college
26. treats me as an adult
27. gives me financial support when I need it
28. tells me that they love me
29. helps me pay for my school textbooks
30. asks me if I like my professors
31. buys me new clothes when I need them
32. asks me about what is going on in my life
33. helps me pay for my school expenses
34. asks me about my plans this weekend
35. talks with me about my future plans
36. pays for my school supplies
37. sends me messages to cheer me up
38. asks me if I am communicating with people at home
39. puts money in my bank account
40. asks me if I have been taking care of myself
41. asks me if I am dating anyone
42. asks me about any upcoming tests
43. is someone who I always look to for advice
44. tells me I am smart when I’m struggling with classes
45. asks me if my classes interests me
46. asks me for my opinion on different issues
47. gives me money so I can go out with my friends
48. asks me about my future exams
49. asks me what events I am going/have gone to
50. helps me pay for transportation
51. offers a shoulder for me to cry on

Scoring: 1=Completely Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Somewhat Disagree, 4=Somewhat Agree, 5=Agree, 6= Completely Agree