A measurement of social support in epidemiological research: the social experiences checklist tested in a general population in The Netherlands.

STUDY OBJECTIVE--This study aimed to examine in a general population the psychometric qualities of an instrument designed to measure positive and negative social experiences that had been developed in a clinical setting. DESIGN--The Netherlands monitoring project on cardiovascular disease risk factors, a large scale population based study (comprising 36,588 men and women aged 20 to 59 years) carried out in three Dutch towns (Amsterdam, Doetinchem, and Maastricht) offered the possibility of testing the strength of this instrument cross sectionally. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--The social expe... Mehr ...