Psychometric Properties of the Teacher Support Subscale of the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale: Evidence from Adolescents in Rural China

Abstract

 Teacher Support Subscale of the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (TSS-CASSS) is a commonly used measurement for evaluating how children and adolescents perceive social support. Although substantial empirical evidence has established the psychometric properties of the subscale, research on the subscales remains limited that capture different kinds of social support from the same source. The objective of this study was to investigate how the empirically derived dimensions of TSS-CASSS align with its theoretically proposed multidimensional structure among rural adolescents in China. This research provides the validation of the Chinese adaptation of the Teacher Support Subscale of the CASSS for the first time. Data were collected from a total of 938 junior middle school adolescents in rural China. Item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) procedures were employed to delineate the latent structure of the instrument and to determine the convergent validity and reliability. Results from both EFA and CFA supported a 21-item, four-factor structure (Emotional Support, Informational Support, Instrumental Support, and Appraisal Support), consistent with the original model. The model demonstrated excellent fit indices (χ²/df = 1.28, CFI = 0.991, TLI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.017, IFI = 0.991). Furthermore, split-half reliability (0.66-0.82), test-retest reliability (0.71-0.84), internal consistency (0.81-0.91), and convergent validity for the scale were all in the acceptable ranges, indicating that the adapted scale possesses strong reliability and construct validity for use among Chinese rural adolescents.