Measuring Family Support in Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Turkey: A Psychometric Investigation

Abstract

This study presents a reduced version of the Perception of Family Support Scale (PFSS)—a measure of family support designed for research and clinical purposes—and examine construct validity, invariance, and reliability evidence for scores obtained from the instrument. Data collection occurred in 2019. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with college student samples from Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Turkey (N = 1,256), we identified an oblique three-factor model corresponding to the original scale’s internal structure (e.g. affective consistency, family maladaptation, and family autonomy). We also found configural, metric, and scalar invariance, good reliability coefficients, and significant relationships with distress (e.g. depression, anxiety, and stress) across the four studied countries. These results indicate good validity evidence for using the brief version of the PFSS. Applications of the PFSS and implications of the current results are discussed.

Keywords:

• Social support
• psychological assessment
• test adaptation
• family therapy
• cross-cultural psychology

Availability of Data and Material

Materials can be obtained under reasonable request.

Disclosure Statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethics

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the relevant institutional and/or national research committees and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

All participants were informed about the goals of the research and agree that the data collected will be published. The participation of respondents was anonymous. The participants were informed that their identities would not be exposed in the surveys or any information that could identify them.

Notes on Contributors

Cristian Zanon is a Professor in the Department of Developmental Psychology and Personality of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). He is the Director of the Psychometric Center and his interests focus on personality assessment, well-being, test adaptation, and psychometrics. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. His research has been supported by grants from National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and “Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior”.

Makilim Nunes Baptista, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Stricto-Sensu Graduate Program in Psychology at the University of São Francisco (São Paulo/Brazil), a program that focuses on Psychological Assessment. He develops psychometric scales and conducts evidence studies of the validity and accuracy of scales in mental health based on classical and modern statistical theories. The secondary interest is the assessment of risk and protection variables for mental disorders (e.g., depression) and psychological phenomena (e.g., suicide), such as family support, social support, self-efficacy, self-concept, and loneliness.

Mark Rubin is a professor of psychology at Durham University, UK. He received an MSc from the London School of Economics and a PhD from Cardiff University, UK. He has published over 100 research articles, mainly in the areas of social identity and intergroup relations. His research interests include sexism, immigration, social class, social exclusion, and mental health. He has also published metascientific work on issues connected with the replication crisis such as preregistration, multiple testing, significance testing, and hypothesizing after the results are known (HARKing). For more information about his work, please visit: http://bit.ly/rubinpsyc

Nursel Topkaya, received her PhD from Ege University in 2011. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling at ÇanakkaleOnsekiz Mart University. Her primary research interests include self-stigma, social stigma, attitudes toward seeking help, and intention to seek help. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on individual counseling, group counseling, and counseling ethics principles. She has published over 49 peer-reviewed articles and has given over 32 national and international conference presentations.

Ertuğrul Şahin, received his PhD from Ondokuz Mayıs University in 2018. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Services, SabuncuoğluŞerefeddin Health Services Vocational School, Amasya University. His primary research interests include the self-concept, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and differential item functioning. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on family education, child development, quantitative methods, and scientific research methods. He has published over 25 peer-reviewed articles and has given over 25 national and international conference presentations.

Rachel E. Brenner, PhD received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Iowa State University in 2018 with a graduate certificate in Quantitative Psychology. Formerly an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University, she is now a Staff User Researcher focused on integrating research and psychology to build more accessible, empathic software products. Her academic research focuses on how individuals respond to stressful events, with emphasis on stigma, cognition, measurement and LGBTQ mental health.

David L. Vogel is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University (ISU), a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), and a licensed psychologist in the State of Iowa. He is the Director of the ISU Interdisciplinary Communication Studies program. His professional interests focus on issues of diversity with specific attention to the role of stigma and stereotyping as they are applied to psychological health and the decision to seek therapy. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has given over 100 national conference presentations. His research has been supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Defense, and the American Psychological Foundation. Current work is focused on developing interventions that will help reduce stigma and increase the likelihood that people in need will seek quality mental health care services.

Winnie W. S. Mak, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on stigma reduction and mental health promotion, particularly through digital technology or other novel approaches, community psychology, and Buddhist psychology. She is a community-based clinical psychologist who works closely with people with lived experiences to translate research into practice.