Dear yan, 

http://media.wix.com/ugd/5119f9_2f88fadcd382463daf5821e8af94a865.pdf

Go here and you can download the scoring :

Circle the “1” if you Very Strongly Disagree

Circle the “2” if you Strongly Disagree

Circle the “3” if you Mildly Disagree

Circle the “4” if you are Neutral

Circle the “5” if you Mildly Agree

Circle the “6” if you Strongly Agree

Circle the “7” if you Very Strongly Agree

all your 12 items go from 1 to 7. 

http://gzimet.wix.com/mspss#!about_us/csgz

Scoring Information:

To calculate mean scores:

Significant Other Subscale: Sum across items 1, 2, 5, & 10, then divide by 4.

Family Subscale: Sum across items 3, 4, 8, & 11, then divide by 4.

Friends Subscale: Sum across items 6, 7, 9, & 12, then divide by 4.

Total Scale: Sum across all 12 items, then divide by 12.

More information at:

http://gzimet.wix.com/mspss

Other MSPSS Scoring Options:

There are no established population norms on the MSPSS. Also, norms would likely vary on the basis of

culture and nationality, as well as age and gender. I have typically looked at how social support differs

between groups (e.g., married compared to unmarried individuals) or is associated with other measures (e.g.,

depression or anxiety). With these approaches you can use the mean scale scores.

If you want to divide your respondents into groups on the basis of MSPSS scores there are at least two ways

you can approach this process:

1. You can divide your respondents into 3 equal groups on the basis of their scores (trichotomize) and

designate the lowest group as low perceived support, the middle group as medium support, and the high

group as high support. This approach ensures that you have about the same number of respondents in each

group. But, if the distribution of scores is skewed, your low support group, for example, may include

respondents who report moderate or even relatively high levels of support.

2. Alternatively, you can use the scale response descriptors as a guide. In this approach any mean scale score

ranging from 1 to 2.9 could be considered low support; a score of 3 to 5 could be considered moderate

support; a score from 5.1 to 7 could be considered high support. This approach would seem to have more

validity, but if you have very few respondents in any of the groups, it could be problematic

Article The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

Dear Béatrice Marianne,

Thank you so much for your answer and the links. They are very helpful, and I think I'll be able to calculate the scores for my data now.

Again, thank you so much.

Yan

Thank you so much for the information

Thanks for the question and the link!

If you want to make an application of the MSPSS with adolescents, you can consult:

Cheng, S., & Chan, A. (2004). The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support: dimensionality and age and gender differences in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 37(7), 1359- 1369. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2004.01.006

A list of many of the articles reporting on the reliability and validity of the MSPSS can be found in this document...