Brown M A
Nurs Res. 1986 Jan-Feb;35(1):4-9.
The purpose of this study was to test empirically a conceptually derived multidimensional formulation of social support. Analyses were based on responses of 313 expectant couples who varied in age, income, and education. A questionnaire, which included the Support Behaviors Inventory (SBI), was given in the latter half of pregnancy. A four-phased analysis was conducted: discriminate validity testing of the multidimensional support structure, further subscale analysis, factor analysis of the structure of the SBI, and reformulation of the SBI based on results of the factor analyses. Results did not demonstrate independence of measurement with items that were developed to represent a priori social support dimensions of emotional, material, informational, and appraisal support. The factor analysis in particular revealed that the scree test by Cattell (1966) demonstrated a large, dramatic discontinuity in eigen-values and suggested that there was only one systematic factor. These results implied a dominant construct of social support in pregnant couples that organizes at the broad level the perceived degree of experienced support during pregnancy. This broader concept was so dominant in the current study, explaining 48% of the variance in partner support and 61% of the variance in others support, that the idea of multidimensionality was not confirmed. These data suggest an ongoing need to scrutinize carefully and validate empirically the hypothesized multiple dimensions of social support proposed in a number of recent support instruments.
本研究的目的是对从概念上推导出来的社会支持多维模型进行实证检验。分析基于313对年龄、收入和教育程度各异的准父母的回答。在孕期后半段发放了一份包含支持行为量表（SBI）的问卷。进行了四个阶段的分析：对多维支持结构进行区分效度检验、进一步的子量表分析、对SBI结构进行因子分析以及根据因子分析结果对SBI进行重新编制。结果并未表明，用于代表情感、物质、信息和评价支持等先验社会支持维度的项目在测量上具有独立性。尤其是因子分析表明，卡特尔（1966年）的碎石检验显示特征值存在巨大、显著的不连续性，这表明只有一个系统因子。这些结果意味着，怀孕夫妇的社会支持存在一个主导结构，该结构在宽泛层面上组织了孕期感受到的支持程度。在当前研究中，这个更宽泛的概念非常突出，解释了伴侣支持中48%的方差以及他人支持中61%的方差，以至于多维性的概念未得到证实。这些数据表明，有必要持续仔细审视并通过实证验证近期一些支持工具中提出的社会支持假设多维性。
