Citation

Pan YF, Ma ZY, Zhou L, Jia CX. Omega (Westport) 2018; ePub(ePub): 30222818805356.

Affiliation

Department of Epidemiology, Shandong University School of Public Health & Shandong University Center for Suicide Prevention Research, Jinan, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Sage Publications)

DOI

10.1177/0030222818805356

PMID

30286689

Abstract

We recruited 242 elderly suicides and 242 controls above 60 years to conduct face-to-face interviews by psychological autopsy to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Duke Social Support Index (DSSI) in rural China. DSSI had high internal consistency, with Cronbach's αs of.89 and.90 in suicides and controls, respectively. DSSI was significantly and negatively correlated to loneliness in both samples. Confirmatory factor analysis basically supported the original structure of DSSI, but Item 4 had low factor loading in controls. In conclusion, DSSI has satisfactory reliability and acceptable validity in evaluating social support in the elderly suicide study in China.

Language: en

Keywords

Duke Social Support Index; reliability; suicide; the elderly; validity