MSPSS – Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) captures perceived social support — your subjective sense of how much backing is available to you, not the size of your network. It yields an overall average score and three subscales (Significant Other, Family, Friends), each on a scale from 1 to 7.
Comparison basis: 🇺🇸 US general-population sample · Cut-off from the validation literature
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12 statements · ~3 min
Important for interpretation
The MSPSS measures how much support you subjectively perceive — not how large your social network actually is or how much others objectively support you. Who the "special person" is is up to you: a partner, a close friend, someone in your family. A low score in one area isn't a verdict on those relationships, but a signal of where backing is currently missing or hard to reach.
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This test is one signal among several. A guided path combines it with a few others instead of a single score.