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Orientation toward utilization of support resources
Author(s) -
Vaux Alan,
Burda Philip,
Stewart Doreen
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(198604)14:2<159::aid-jcop2290140207>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - psychology , construct validity , social support , psychological intervention , coping (psychology) , sample (material) , reliability (semiconductor) , social psychology , internal consistency , construct (python library) , validity , applied psychology , clinical psychology , psychometrics , computer science , power (physics) , chemistry , physics , chromatography , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , programming language
A construct in social support that has received relatively little attention is network orientation: the individual's willingness to utilize his or her social support resources. This construct and a 20‐item self‐report measure of it are presented. Data from five samples, including four samples of somewhat heterogeneous students and one sample of community adults, were used to assess the reliability and validity of the instrument. The instrument showed good internal consistency and showed excellent stability in the community sample, but not in the student samples. The measure showed good validity with respect to a range of social support criterion measures, somewhat good validity with respect to personal characteristics, and somewhat poor validity with respect to coping and self‐disclosure criteria. It was proposed that individuals who have social support resources but do not use them may be an important focus for interventions.