| Abstract: | Given the significant support system changes that students often experience at the university level, college students often view fellow students as their primary source of academic support. This study offers validity evidence for the Student Academic Support Scale (SASS), a 15-item, multidimensional measure that assesses informational, esteem, motivational, and venting support. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the SASS revealed close model fit, replicated prior CFA tests (Thompson & Mazer, 2009
Thompson , B. , &
Mazer , J. P. ( 2009 ). College student ratings of student academic support: Frequency, importance, and modes of communication . Communication Education , 58 , 433 – 458 .Taylor & Francis Online], Web of Science ®] , Google Scholar]), and ultimately provided additional evidence for content validity. More important, correlations between student academic support, student motivation, affective learning, and engagement suggest that the SASS construct is related to other theoretically similar constructs, providing initial evidence for construct validity. Pedagogical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. |
