title: Predictive validity of social support relative to psychological well-being in men with spinal cord injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Compare predictive validity (relative to psychological well-being) of long and short versions of 2 measures of social support for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-nine men with SCI completed (a) a long and short version of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), (b) a structured interview regarding the frequency with which a person receives 11 kinds of support from each of their most important supporters (maximum of 5), and (c) a global measure of the same 11 kinds of support. Approximately 3 years later they completed 4 measures of psychological well-being--the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CESD), the Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Comparisons were made among the social support measures with regard to their ability to predict each of the 4 measures of psychological well-being at a later point in time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The long version of the ISEL had more predictive power than the long version of the structured interview.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The long version of the ISEL is a good choice for measuring social support in persons with SCI and the short ISEL may be an acceptable choice when minimizing respondent burden is critical if the number of response options is increased to 4.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
authors.forename: Diana H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Rintala
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires