Normative values and psychometric properties of the Oslo Social Support Scale‑3 (OSSS‑3) for adults aged 60 to 85 years

Abstract

The main objective of the current study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3) and establish detailed normative values for older adults aged between 60 and 85 years. The representative sample analyzed consists of German residents aged between 60 and 85 living in private households (N = 1659). The analysis of the psychometric properties of the OSSS-3 involved reliability and validity testing as well as an EFA and a CFA. We provide age-specific normative data for the OSSS-3 for the German population aged between 60 and 85. The EFA resulted in a one-factor model for OSSS-3, and the CFA confirmed that this model fits the data well. In accordance with previous studies on this topic, we found that the OSSS-3 is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing perceived levels of social support among older adults. The generated percentile norms allow the direct comparison of individual scores of older adults on the OSSS-3 to an age-corresponding reference sample. Exploring the levels of perceived social support among older adults is important, given the low levels of perceived social support experienced by approximately 25% of older adults in Germany. The risk factors for social isolation and its consequences for the mental and physical health of older adults are discussed. If the population continues to age as expected, an even greater number of older adults in the future could face low levels of perceived social support.