Recently developed Index of Sojourner Social Support (ISSS): Psychometric performance among, and public health implications for, Spanish-speaking immigrant Latino men who have sex with men (MSM)

We assessed the psychometric performance of the 18-item Index of Sojourner Social Support (ISSS), a recently developed instrument that captures socio-emotional and instrumental support for adults living outside their country of origin, within a sample of immigrant Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). These men comprise a marginalized population for whom social support may be especially salient. Data were collected from 190 immigrant Latino MSM (mean age=26) in central North Carolina. Nearly 80% reported being from Mexico originally. We used Mplus v.6 to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis, using weighted least squares estimation to account for the ordinal data and full information maximum likelihood to impute missing values. The two factor model showed an unacceptably high correlation between the latent socio-emotional and instrumental support factors (r>.94). We respecified a single factor model, which showed good fit by two indices (CFI=.976; TLI=.972) but poor fit by the χ² and weighted root mean square residual statistics (χ²=925.843, df=135; WRMR=2.788). Nine pairs of variables had correlations ≥.99, indicating redundant measures. A single factor model with 12 indicators showed a similar goodness-of-fit pattern (CFI=.970; TLI=.963, χ²=570.265, df=54; WRMR=2.534) with high standardized factor loadings (λs≥.858). These factor loadings suggest that the ISSS is a very good measure of some latent construct, presumed to be social support. The distinction between two types of social support, however, was not supported. Future research should elaborate the most meaningful dimensions of social support among immigrant populations and establish whether associations exist between ISSS scores and health-related behaviors.