The Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is one of the most extensively used instruments to assess social support. The purpose of this research was to test the reliability, factorial validity, concurrent validity and measurement invariance across gender groups of the MSPSS in Chinese parents of children with cerebral palsy. A total of 487 participants aged 21-55 years were recruited to complete the Chinese MSPSS and Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF). Composite reliability was calculated as the internal consistency of the Chinese MSPSS and a (multi-group) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the factorial validity and measurement invariance across gender. And Pearson correlations were calculated to test the relationships between MSPSS and PSI-SF. The Chinese MSPSS had satisfactory internal reliability with composite reliability values of more than 0.7. The CFA indicated that the original three-factor model was replicated in this specific population. Importantly, the results of the multi-group CFA demonstrated that configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender groups was supported. In addition, all the three subscales of MSPSS were significant related with PSI-SF. These findings suggest that the Chinese MSPSS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing social support and can generally be utilized across sex in the parents of children with cerebral palsy.
Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis; measurement invariance; reliability; social support; validity.