SOCIAL SAFENESS AND PLEASURE SCALE

Abstract

The Social Safeness and Pleasure Scale (SSPS) is a specialized psychological scale developed to quantify the degree to which individuals perceive their social environment as protective, warm, and restorative. It specifically targets the experience of positive feelings and emotions derived from interpersonal interactions. The scale is composed of 12 statements designed to capture feelings such as belonging, acceptance, security, and warmth from others. Respondents utilize a 5-point Likert scale format, typically ranging from 0 (“almost never”) to 4 (“almost all the time”), to indicate their agreement with each descriptive statement. The SSPS has demonstrated high internal consistency, reporting a strong Cronbach alpha of 0.92 in initial studies.

Keywords

Social safeness, social pleasure, belonging, acceptance, positive affect, soothing, contentment, interpersonal relationships, psychological assessment.

Authors

Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Mitra, R., Richter, A., Franks, L., Mills, A., Bellew, R., Gale, C.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Social Safeness and Pleasure Scale is to systematically measure an individual’s subjective experience of positive emotional states within social situations. It focuses on the crucial psychological dimension of feeling socially secure and deriving pleasure from relationships, which are often considered essential components of well-being and emotional regulation.

The scale provides researchers and clinicians with a tool to assess the extent to which a person experiences their social world as a source of comfort, warmth, and security, rather than a source of threat or anxiety. This assessment is particularly relevant in therapeutic contexts, such as compassion-focused therapy, where cultivating feelings of inner and outer safeness is a central goal.

Construct

The SSPS measures the construct of Social Safeness and Soothing, which is defined by the experience of feeling connected, accepted, and emotionally regulated through interactions with others. This construct encompasses specific affective experiences, including contentment, security, and warmth, which contrast with feelings of isolation or threat.

The development process involved identifying 14 adjectives indicative of safeness and soothing (e.g., ‘soothed,’ ‘peaceful,’ ‘safe,’ ‘secure’). These adjectives were rigorously ranked by researchers to ensure they accurately captured the desired emotional state before 12 situational statements were devised to operationalize the construct in everyday relational contexts.

Validity

While the source content does not provide specific details on convergent or discriminant validity coefficients, the development methodology suggests a strong focus on content validity. The items were carefully curated based on expert consensus regarding adjectives that define social safeness and soothing (e.g., ‘contented,’ ‘secure,’ ‘calm’).

The scale was utilized in a study examining different types of positive affect in student and clinical populations, specifically patients with bipolar disorder, suggesting its application in distinguishing positive emotional experiences across varying mental health statuses, thereby supporting its construct validity in clinical research settings.

Reliability

The Social Safeness and Pleasure Scale demonstrates excellent internal consistency. The initial development study reported a high Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.92.

This high reliability score indicates that the 12 items within the scale are highly correlated with one another and effectively measure a singular, underlying construct of social safeness and pleasure. This makes the SSPS a highly reliable instrument for research and clinical assessment.

Factor Analysis

The scale development process involved an initial qualitative phase to establish item clarity and relevance. Three researchers selected 14 adjectives related to safeness/soothing, which were then ranked by five researchers on a 1–3 scale (1= low soothing; 3= high soothing). The summed scores guided the creation of the 12 final statements.

Although explicit results of a confirmatory or exploratory factor analysis are not provided in the source abstract, the systematic item generation process aimed to create a unidimensional scale focused solely on the experience of social safety and warmth. Subsequent research would typically confirm the factor structure of this instrument.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale

Format: 12 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: General population, students, and clinical populations (e.g., individuals with bipolar disorder).

Age Group: Adults (based on the context of university students and clinical patient samples).

Population Details: Used in the reference study with university students and patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the extent to which they agree with statements regarding positive social feelings. Scoring involves summing the item responses. The response anchors range from 0 (“almost never”) to 4 (“almost all the time”).

Keywords

Social well-being, emotional regulation, attachment, self-compassion, relational warmth, psychological assessment, psychometrics.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content. Affiliated with the University of Derby at the time of publication.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was developed and published in 2009. Information regarding formal permissions and licensing fees for commercial use is not explicitly stated, but the scale is frequently used in academic research. The original document for the scale is available online via the University of Derby website.

The original DOC file for the scale can be downloaded here: http://www.derby.ac.uk/files/social_safeness_and_pleasure_scale.doc

Reference’s

Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Mitra, R., Richter, A., Franks, L., Mills, A., Bellew, R. & Gale, C. (2009). An exploration of different types of positive affect in students and patients with bipolar disorder. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 6(3), 135-143.

Items of the SOCIAL SAFENESS AND PLEASURE SCALE

Respondents rate their feelings on a 5-point scale, where 1 typically represents “Almost never” and 5 represents “Almost all the time.”