Abstract

LEITE, Soniárlei Vieira  and  FRANCA, Lucia Helena de Freitas Pinho. Social support perceived by the older college students compared to the younger ones. Aval. psicol. [online]. 2022, vol.21, n.1, pp. 1-12. ISSN 1677-0471.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15689/ap.2022.2101.20034.01.

This study was carried out with 326 university students (126 older adults and 200 younger adults) from 13 universities in the state of Rio de Janeiro. It aimed to investigate the importance these older and younger students attributed to the social support, identifying the differences and similarities between them. The students completed a questionnaire that included the Social Support Scale (MOS-SSS), using the Exploratory Graph Analysis - EGA method to demonstrate the dimensionality of this scale in these groups. The results showed that promoting social support in the older adults' network could help improve their functional and educational practice and general development. This knowledge emphasizes and consolidates the role of the university in gerontological education. Social support is important for both age groups, with affective and material dimensions predominant in the older adults.

Keywords : perceived social support; university students; younger and older adults; differences and similarities; scale.

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