The Social Relationship Scale (SRS) measures all categories of life stress and social network size, type, and quality to address life stressors. It assesses social support within the social stressors of work, money/finances, home/family, personal/social, personal health, and societal problems. Respondents are asked to identify people with whom they discuss these various life stressors. For each relationship nominated, the respondent rates their helpfulness and indicates whether that person would also ask them for social support.
Measures Registry
Social Relationship Scale (SRS)
Description
Purpose
The SRS measure was developed to measure the role of social support in managing the effects of life stressors on health and well-being.
Population
Adults
Year of Publication
1981
Reference
McFarlane, A. H., Neale, K. A., Norman, G. R., Roy, R. G., & Streiner, D. L. (1981). Methodological issues in developing a scale to measure social support. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 7(1), 90-100. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/7.1.90
Number of Items
6
Scale Types (Likert=Likert Type; MC=Multiple Choice; T/F=True/False; OR=Open Response)
Likert Type, Open Response
OR and Likert: 1 = Makes things a lot worse to 7 = Helps things a lot
Subscales
Work
Money and Finances
Home and Family
Personal and Social
Personal Health
Society in General
Scoring
The total number of individuals listed as members of the respondent's social support network for each life stressor category are summed. Further interpretation of scores can be completed by calculating the mean number of social support network members in different categories (e.g., spouse, family, neighbors, etc.), the average helpfulness of the social network, and similar items. Additional information can be found in the source article.
Administration
Self-Administered
Readability/ Literacy Level
N/A
Reliability
Test-retest reliability of the SRS was determined by administering the measure to the same group of community college students at two time points 1 week apart. Correlations in each category of life stressor ranged from 0.62 to 0.99, with a median of 0.91, indicating stable test-retest reliability of the measure. The average helpfulness (i.e., responses to all life stressor categories combined) was also assessed for test-retest reliability, demonstrating stable reliability ranging from 0.54 to 0.94, with a median of 0.78.
Validity
Content validity of the SRS was measured by using a panel of four clinicians. These experts were asked to review the SRS and provide feedback on whether they thought it would accurately inform them about a patient's existing social supports. These experts approved the measure and requested that an additional probe be added to the interviewer guide to assess for three or four modal figures who could provide social support, which was added.
Criterion validity of the SRS was measured by comparing respondent scores on the SRS between two criterion groups: married couples in a parent therapist program and couples seeking treatment due to family difficulties. The researchers hypothesized that the married couples in the parent therapist program would list their spouse as more helpful in all categories of the SRS, which was supported. In other words, the two criterion groups were distinguishable based on their responses, demonstrating the criterion validity of the SRS.
Limitations
N/A
Availability
Publicly Available
Cost
Free
Other Considerations
N/A