The inventory of socially supportive behaviors: dimensionality, prediction, and gender differences.

The nature of social support as measured by the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB) was explored in the study. The results of a principal components analysis suggest that it is appropriate to use the ISSB as a global measure of a unidimensional construct. The components that emerged were interpretable, however, and are consistent with the types of social support that have been cited in the literature. Males and females do not differ in overall social support as measured by the ISSB, but females report receiving more emotional support than males do. Social network variables predicted ISSB scores for males but not for females. The network variable that predicted social support most strongly was the number of people a respondent felt close to and could confide in or turn to for help in an emergency. The meanings and implications of these findings are discussed.