Social Networks Questionnaire

Abstract

The Social Networks Questionnaire (SNQ) is a specialized psychometric tool designed to map and assess an individual’s core social support system and attachment figures. It requires respondents to list significant people in their lives—those with whom they feel a strong emotional tie, regardless of the valence (positive, negative, or mixed). The instrument collects detailed descriptive data (demographics, proximity, frequency of contact) and then uses a ranking system to evaluate the functional roles these individuals play in the respondent’s life, particularly concerning support seeking, reliability, and emotional impact.

Keywords

Social Networks, Social Support, Attachment theory, Relationship Quality, Emotional Connection, Network Mapping, Psychological Assessment, Ranking Instrument.

Authors

This scale is closely associated with the research of Dr. Kim Bartholomew and colleagues at Simon Fraser University, focusing on adult attachment and social support structures. Formal authorship details specific to this version of the questionnaire require consultation of related academic publications.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the SNQ is to provide a detailed, structured inventory of an individual’s immediate Social Networks. It moves beyond simply listing contacts by quantifying key logistical aspects (distance, duration, contact frequency) and then assessing the qualitative, functional characteristics of these relationships. This holistic approach allows researchers to evaluate the structure and efficacy of the respondent’s support system.

Specifically, the instrument aims to identify critical attachment figures and determine which individuals are sought out for emotional support, who is perceived as reliable, and who holds the greatest emotional impact, including the potential to cause distress or upset. The dual nature of the questions—asking both what the respondent wants and what they actually do—provides rich data on discrepancies between ideal and real-world support utilization.

Construct

The SNQ measures the structure and function of the respondent’s personal social network, rooted heavily in concepts derived from Attachment theory and social support literature. The central psychological construct assessed is the nature of the emotional bonds (or emotional ties) and the availability and perceived reliability of support figures.

By requiring specific ranking questions (e.g., “Whom would you want to go to?” vs. “Whom do you actually go to?”), the scale differentiates between desired support seeking behavior and actual support utilization, providing insight into potential discrepancies in an individual’s internal working models of relationships.

Validity

Specific details regarding the psychometric properties, such as comprehensive convergent and discriminant validity studies, are typically established in the research papers utilizing this instrument. Given its structural nature, validity would rely on its ability to correlate network characteristics (e.g., network size, density, frequency of contact) with established measures of well-being, attachment style, and psychological distress.

Researchers often use the data collected by the SNQ to establish criterion validity by correlating network structure metrics with outcomes related to stress coping, mental health indicators, and relationship satisfaction, confirming that the network map accurately predicts behavioral and emotional outcomes.

Reliability

Information regarding the internal consistency (e.g., Cronbach’s Alpha) and test-retest reliability for the derived metrics (such as average emotional connection score or support density) is essential but not provided in the source documentation. Reliability assessment would focus on the stability and consistency of the network mapping over time, particularly the stability of the ranked attachment figures across repeated administrations.

Factor Analysis

As the SNQ is fundamentally a detailed inventory and ranking tool rather than a standard multi-item Likert scale designed to measure latent factors, traditional factor analysis is not directly applicable to the initial demographic data collection. However, factor analysis might be applied to scores derived from the ranking section (e.g., clustering individuals based on the type of support role they fulfill) in subsequent quantitative research studies to identify underlying dimensions of social support functions.

Instrument

Test Type: Sociometric Inventory and Ranking Scale.

Format: Structured questionnaire involving open-ended demographic listing followed by forced-choice or rank-order comparison across defined emotional and functional criteria.

Language Available: English (as per source material).

Population Group: General population, often utilized in clinical or academic settings for research on adult relationships and attachment.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults (suitable for individuals capable of complex relationship assessment).

Population Details: Used primarily in psychological research studying social support, stress coping, and attachment theory.

Test Methodology: Respondents first nominate significant individuals (up to 15 in the provided format) and record descriptive data about them (e.g., relationship type, sex, age, distance, frequency of contact, and duration known). Subsequently, they rank these nominated individuals across eight crucial emotional and supportive dimensions (A through H).

Keywords

Social support, network size, ranking scale, relationship assessment, psychological tool, emotional distress, proximity, contact frequency, emotional tie.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source. Associated with Simon Fraser University (SFU) research environment.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale appears to be used primarily in academic research contexts. Permissions and fees are not detailed in the source content. The original document was hosted on a university faculty webpage, suggesting it may be available for academic use, but formal permission should be sought from the associated research group (likely SFU Psychology Department). The test year is not explicitly stated.

The source URL provided is: http://www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/bartholomew/attachnetworks1.htm.

Reference’s

The primary reference point is the source hosting the instrument, associated with the work on adult attachment networks. Researchers using this instrument should cite the originating academic publication, which is often a journal article or book chapter detailing the scale’s development and validation. The instrument is utilized in quantitative research studies focusing on the structural and functional aspects of Social Networks.

Items of the Social Networks Questionnaire

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