Measuring Social Support in Battered Women

Abstract

Social support is related to mental health outcomes among battered women. It is unclear, however, whether researchers should measure social support as a unidimensional or multidimensional concept. Efforts to identify the latent dimensions underlying a common measure of social support, the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), have yielded inconsistent results. This study used exploratory factor analytic procedures to determine the most appropriate factor structure for the ISEL. The ISEL was completed by two samples (one help seeking, one non–help seeking) of primarily African American, low-income battered women who had experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) within the previous year. Results indicated that social support in battered women is best conceptualized as unidimensional.