The Student Perception of University Support and Structure Scale:development and validation

Abstract

A new scale, the Student Perception of University Support and Structure Scale (SPUSS), was developed for research on the transition to university. The scale was based on concepts derived from Baumrind's (1971) theory of parenting styles. Data were obtained from two separate cohorts of freshmen (n=759 and 397) attending six Canadian universities of varying sizes. The scale demonstrated excellent psychometric properties with Cronbach alphas of 0.87 and 0.89 for internal validity (0.84–0.90 and 0.85–0.91 across universities) and alphas of 0.86 and 0.88 for split-half reliability (0.80–0.94 and 0.86–0.89 across universities). Component analyses supported the use of a full-scale score. SPUSS scores were correlated with the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, supporting the predictive validity of the scale.

Keywords:

• further education
• higher education
• schooling
• transition
• young adulthood

Acknowledgements

This study was partially funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant no. 410-2007-1731 awarded to the third author.