The positive health and wellbeing effects of social support have been consistently demonstrated in the literature since the late 1970s. However, a better understanding of the effects of age and sex is required.

We examined the factor structure and reliability of Kessler’s Perceived Social Support (KPSS) measure in a community–based sample that comprised younger and older adult cohorts from the Australian Twin Registry (ATR), totalling 11,389 males and females aged 18–95, of whom 887 were retested 25 months later.

Factor analysis consistently identified seven factors: support from spouse, twin, children, parents, relatives, friends and helping support. Internal reliability for the seven dimensions ranged from 0.87 to 0.71 and test–retest reliability ranged from 0.75 to 0.48. Perceived support was only marginally higher in females. Age dependencies were explored. Across the age range, there was a slight decline (more marked in females) in the perceived support from spouse, parent and friend, a slight increase in perceived relative and helping support for males but none for females, a substantial increase in the perceived support from children for males and females and a negligible decline in total KPSS for females against a negligible increase for males. The perceived support from twin remained constant. Females were more likely to have a confidant, although this declined with age whilst increasing with age for males.

Total scores for perceived social support conflate heterogeneous patterns on sub–scales that differ markedly by age and sex. Our paper describes these relationships in detail in a very large Australian sample.