Friends in high-tech places: the development and validation of the online social support measure

Social support and social negativity are recognized as having important effects on health. Though online social interactions and research examining them are increasingly common, no validated instrument has heretofore been developed to examine social support and social negativity specifically in online contexts. The present studies describe the development and validation of the Online Social Support Measure (OSSM). In Study 1, responses to a potential item pool were collected from participants (N=557), who were then subdivided into two groups for the purposes of cross-validation via exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results suggested the emergence of two factors: online social support (OSSM+ subscale) and online social negativity (OSSM- subscale). In Study 2 (N=139), an additional confirmatory factor analysis again indicated this twofactor structure. Further, the OSSM- subscale was predictive of elevated diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in a 1-day ambulatory cardiovascular assessment, suggesting online social negativity may have implications for physical health. Overall results indicate the OSSM may be a useful tool in understanding online social processes.