Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of the Hindi Version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

Social support in India has been a cause of concern, especially considering its proven role as a coping resource in physical and psychological stress. However, the study of social support in India has been hampered by the lack of suitable validated scales in regional Indian languages. The English scales restrict such studies to a minuscule of the country’s population. The current study addresses the issue by psychometrically validating a Hindi translation of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS)—the most widely used social support scale globally. The study results indicate that the translated version exhibits good reliability, validity and a three-factor structure, in line with the original scale. However, unlike the original English version of the scale, all three sub-constructs are measured well by three items instead of four. The current research contributes to the study of perceived social support in India and its effects by providing a psychometrically validated scale that applies to 690 million Indians.