RESUMEN
El apoyo social se ha definido como las transacciones interpersonales instrumentales que implican ayuda en todas sus vertientes, tales como emocional, económica, implícita, explícita, etc. La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo elaborar una escala que midiera el apoyo social para la población mexicana en situación de pobreza. Se tomaron como base dos instrumentos: la Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support y el Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors. La muestra la conformaron 913 personas de ambos sexos. Un análisis factorial permitió observar la emergencia de tres componentes: 1) apoyo social, 2) apoyo familiar y 3) apoyo de amigos. Los tres factores explican el 66.24 % de la varianza y tienen índices de confiabilidad adecuados que oscilan entre 0.71 y 0.94.
The social support has been defined as the interpersonal instrumental transactions that involve help in any of its forms, such like emotional, economic, implicit, explicit, etc. The present research was aimed to devise a scale to measure the perception of social support in Mexicans living in poverty. The scale was based on two instruments: 1) The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and 2) The Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors. The sample was conformed by 913 people, men and women. A factorial analysis resulted in an internal structure of three components: 1) Social support, 2) Family support, and 3) Support from friends. The three factors explain 66.24% of the total variance and have adequate alpha coefficients that oscillate between 0.71 and 0.94.