Norbeck‚ Lindsey & Carrieri‚ 1981
1. How much does this person make you feel loved?
2. How much does this person make you feel respected or admired?
3. How much can you confide in this person?
4. How much does this person agree with or support your actions or thoughts?
5. If you needed to borrow $10‚ a ride to the doctor‚ or some other immediate help‚ how much could this person usually help?
6. If you were confined to bed for several weeks‚ how much could this person help you?
7. How long have you known this person?
8. How frequently do you usually have contact with this person? (phone calls‚ emails‚ visits‚ or letters)
9. During the past year‚ have you lost any important relationships due to moving‚ a job change‚ divorce or separation‚ death‚ or some other reason?
9. a. Please indicate the number of persons from each category who are no longer available to you.
9. b. Overall‚ how much of your support was provided by these people who are no longer available to you?
0 = none at all
1 = a little
2 = a moderate amount
3 = quite a bit
4 = a great deal
NSSQ items used to rate the quality of social support provided by members of the respondent’s social support network
Items Functional type
*1. How much does this person make you feel liked or loved? Affect
*2. How much does this person make you feel respected or admired as a parent? Affect
*3. How much can you confide in this person? Affirmation
*4. How much does this person agree with or support your parenting? Affirmation
*5. If you needed babysitting‚ a ride to the doctor‚ or some other immediate help‚ how much could this person usually help? Aid
*6. If you were confined to bed for several weeks‚ how much Aid could this person help with your parenting responsibilities? Aid
7. How long have you known this person?* Duration of relationship
8. How frequently do you have contact with this person? Frequency of contact
9. How close do you feel to this person? Closeness of relationship
10. How close does this person live to you? Geographical distance
Note. Item responses are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale for items marked with an asterisk.
Item 9 is rated on a 3-point Likert-type scale. Item 10 is rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale
Internal consistency: Zachariah calculated the internal consistency of the Emotional Support subscale (combining items from the Affect and Affirmation subscales); the alpha was .97 (Zachariah‚ 1996).
Internal consistency: Researchers have calculated Cronbach alphas for the 6-item NSSQ (.97)‚ the Affect subscale (.98)‚ Affirmation subscale (.97) and the Aid subscale (.91)‚ respectively (Gigliotti‚ 2002).
Test-retest: At one week‚ n=67‚ Affect=.89; Affirmation = .88 ; Aid = .86 (Norbeck et al.‚ 1981); at seven months‚ n=44‚ correlations ranged from .58 – .78‚ indicating a high degree of stability (Norbeck et al.‚ 1983).
0 = not at all‚ 1 = a little‚ 2 = moderately‚ 3 = quite a bit‚ 4 = a great deal
Norbeck‚ J.S.‚ Lindsey‚ A.M. and Carrieri‚ V.L. (1981). The development of an instrument to measure social support. Nursing Research‚ 30‚ 264-269.
Norbeck‚ J.S.‚ Lindsey‚ A.M. and Carreiri‚ V.L. (1983). Further development of the Norbeck social support questionnaire: Normative data and validity testing. Nursing Research‚ 32‚ 4-9.
Norbeck‚ J.S. (1984). Modification of a recent life event questionnaire for use with female respondents. Research in Nursing and Health‚ 7‚ 61-71.
Norbeck‚ J.S. (1984). The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire. Birth defects original article series‚ 20(5):45-57.
Byers‚ Patricia H.‚ Mullis‚ Marcia R. (1987). Reliability and Validity of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire in Psychiatric Inpatients. Educational and Psychological Measurement‚ 47(2); 445-448
Norbeck‚ J.S. and Anderson‚ N.J. (1989). Life stress‚ social support‚ and anxiety in mid and late-pregnancy among low income women. Research in Nursing and Health‚ 12 (5)‚ 281-287.
Zachariah‚ R. (1996). Predictors of psychological well-being of women during pregnancy: Replication and extension. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality‚ 2 (1)‚ 127-140.
La Roche‚ M. & Turner‚ C. (1997). Self-orientation and depression level among Dominicans in the United States. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences‚ 19 (4)‚ 479-488.
La Roche‚ M. (1999). The association of social relations and depression levels among Dominicans in the United States. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences‚ 21(4)‚ 420-430.
Gigliotti‚ E. (2002). A confirmation of the factor structure of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire. Nursing Research‚ 51(5)‚ 276-284.
Stevens‚ Monica Leah. (2008). Psychometric Properties of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire. University of Florida. master’s ( M.S. Thesis).
Zachariah‚ R. (2009). Social support‚ life stress‚ and anxiety as predictors of pregancy complications in low-income women. Research in Nursing and Health‚ 32‚ 391-404.
