Correcting for Motivational Distortion on Selected Adolescent Self-Report Personality Tests

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to correct for motivational distortion (MD) on the High School Personality Questionnaire (HSPQ) and to evaluate the effectiveness of the HSPQ MD scale in identifying test-takers who had “faked good.” Subjects included 193 adolescent males who were given either the standard test instructions or else instructed to fake good. The participants completed the HSPQ and three additional scales that measure response distortions. Data analysis showed that the HSPQ MD scale correctly classified 63% of the respondents, yet showed the least effect size in comparison to the other scales. A multivariate analysis of variance and subsequent univariate analyses indicated that eight personality factors were susceptible to motivational distortion. Correction procedures were effective in reducing the effects of faking good. The relevance of the findings are discussed in terms of theoretical formulations by Cattell (1968, 1973, 1986) and implications for school psychologists.