Perceived social support in a large community sample--age and sex differences.
BACKGROUND
The positive health and wellbeing effects of social support have been consistently demonstrated in the literature since the late 1970s. However, a better understanding of the effects of age and sex is required.


METHODS
We examined the factor structure and reliability of Kessler's Perceived Social Support (KPSS) measure in a community-based sample that comprised younger and older adult cohorts from the Australian Twin Registry (ATR), totalling 11,389 males and females aged 18-95, of whom 887 were retested 25 months later.


RESULTS
Factor analysis consistently identified seven factors: support from spouse, twin, children, parents, relatives, friends and helping support. Internal reliability for the seven dimensions ranged from 0.87 to 0.71 and test-retest reliability ranged from 0.75 to 0.48. Perceived support was only marginally higher in females. Age dependencies were explored. Across the age range, there was a slight decline (more marked in females) in the perceived support from spouse, parent and friend, a slight increase in perceived relative and helping support for males but none for females, a substantial increase in the perceived support from children for males and females and a negligible decline in total KPSS for females against a negligible increase for males. The perceived support from twin remained constant. Females were more likely to have a confidant, although this declined with age whilst increasing with age for males.


CONCLUSIONS
Total scores for perceived social support conflate heterogeneous patterns on sub-scales that differ markedly by age and sex. Our paper describes these relationships in detail in a very large Australian sample.
Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia. wcoventr@pobox.une.edu.au
W L
WL
Coventry
N A
NA
Gillespie
A C
AC
Heath
N G
NG
Martin
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology