Abstract

The perceived social support in adolescents can have a positive or negative influence in their health; therefore it is necessary to have the instruments to measure it. This could guide the development of health promoter strategies. Objective: To determine the reliability and validity of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support in Chilean adolescents. Materials and Method: Psychometric study, the instrument was applied to 247 high school students, with previous informed consent of the duty-bearer adult and the adolescent approval. Reliability was established through internal consistency evaluation by Cronbach's alpha; concurrent criterion validity was established through the correlation with auto efficiency scale; and construct validity was established through factorial analysis. Results: Reliability is adequate for the total scale (n=0,88) and for each subscale (n= >0,76). Scale structure showed to be tridimensional as the original scale and positively related with auto efficiency. Conclusion: This instrument is reliable and valid to be used in the Chilean adolescent population.