Measuring perceived social support garnered in online spaces
The Online Social Support Scale (OSSS)
We developed the OSSS to measure four social support subtypes recognized for decades in the in-person literature, but in new online contexts:
💕 Esteem/Emotional: esteem, acceptance, caring, validation, sympathy
🎮 Social Companionship: belonging, inclusivity, sharing interests and activities
📋 Informational: advice, help with coping, sharing information and perspective
💸 Instrumental: financial aid, resources, help with tasks
Free to use for researchers: download the measure and scoring instructions here:
Descriptions of development, reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity are available in Psychological Assessment