Children's Social Desirability Research Articles

Measurement Invariance of the Children's Social Desirability Scale-Short Version (CSD-S) Across Gender, Grade Level, and Race/Ethnicity.

Social desirability bias is a methodological challenge with participant self-reports. Social desirability measures are often used to control the potential effects of social desirability bias on participant self-reports, but whether these measures are interpreted similarly across different demographic groups remains unclear. This study examines the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Children's Social Desirability Scale-Short version (CSD-S) across gender, grade level, and race/ethnicity with a large sample of children and adolescents in the United States. Results indicate a close fit to a one-factor model. Tests of measurement invariance show partial strong invariance across gender (male vs. female) and grade level (elementary vs. middle vs. high schoolers) as well as strong invariance across race/ethnicity (Asian vs. Black/African American vs. Hispanic/Latine vs. White vs. Bi/Multiracial). Latent mean differences were found across grade level and race/ethnicity but not gender, with lower grades reporting higher social desirability than upper grades and Bi/Multiracials reporting lower social desirability than Asians and Hispanics/Latines. Findings provide preliminary evidence for the use of CSD-S in detecting social desirability bias and assessing meaningful social desirability differences in diverse children and adolescents.

Prosocial Tendencies among Chinese American Children in Immigrant Families: Links to Cultural and Socio‐demographic Factors and Psychological Adjustment

AbstractThe present study examined relations between prosocial tendencies (dispositional sympathy and prosocial behavior) and psychological adjustment using a multi‐method and multi‐informant approach in a socioeconomically diverse sample of first‐ and second‐generation Chinese American children from immigrant families (N = 238, M age = 9.2 years). We tested the concurrent associations between: (a) children's dispositional sympathy (rated by parents, teachers, and children, and observed prosocial behavior), (b) psychological adjustment (parent‐ and teacher‐reported externalizing problems and social competence); and (c) cultural and socio‐demographic factors (children's Chinese and American orientations, family Socioeconomic Status (SES), only child status, and children's age, sex, and social desirability). Results from correlations and structural equation modeling suggested that different measures of prosocial tendencies related differently to children's psychological adjustment. Parent‐ and teacher‐rated sympathy were associated with higher child social competence and lower externalizing problems within, but not across, reporter. By contrast, child‐rated sympathy was associated with higher teacher‐rated social competence, and observed prize donation was associated with lower teacher‐rated externalizing problems. Different measures of prosocial tendencies also showed different relations to cultural and socio‐demographic factors. These findings suggest that prosocial tendencies are not a unitary construct in Chinese American immigrant children: the manifestations of prosocial tendencies and their adjustment implications might depend on the context and/or targets of these tendencies.

Test-Retest Reliability of a Short Form of the Children's Social Desirability Scale for Nutrition and Health-related Research

To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the Children's Social Desirability Short (CSD-S) scale, consisting of 14 items from the Children's Social Desirability scale. The previously validated CSD-S scale was classroom administered to 97 fourth-grade children (80% African American; 76% low socioeconomic status) in 2 sessions a month apart. Each classroom administration lasted approximately 5 minutes. The CSD-S scale showed acceptable levels of test-retest reliability (0.70) and internal consistency (.82 and .85 for the first and second administrations, respectively). Reliability was adequate within subgroups of gender, socioeconomic status, academic achievement, and body mass index percentile. Levels of social desirability did not differ across subgroups. Social desirability bias is a potential source of systematic response error in children's self-report assessments of nutrition and health-related behaviors. The CSD-S scale may be used with diverse groups of children to reliably and efficiently assess social desirability bias.

Age, neuropsychological, and social cognitive measures as predictors of individual differences in susceptibility to the misinformation effect

AbstractThis study examined the relationship between age, neuropsychological performance (indexed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, California Verbal Learning Test, the backward digit span and the verbal paired associates scale, VPA), social cognitive status (indexed by the Children's Social Desirability and the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale), and susceptibility to the misinformation effect (Loftus, Miller, & Burns, 1978) in 65 children and adolescents. The predictors accounted for 17% to 22% of variation in the misinformation effect. In particular, participants with better VPA scores were more susceptible to the effect. In a secondary analysis involving interrogative suggestibility, better VPA scores correlated with lower suggestibility. These findings show that better associative memory can be correlated with either higher or lower suggestibility depending on the way in which participants are misled. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Children's Social Desirability and Dietary Reports

We investigated telephone administration of the Children's Social Desirability (CSD) scale and our adaptation for children of the Social Desirability for Food scale (C-SDF). Each of 100 4th-graders completed 2 telephone interviews 28 days apart. CSD scores had adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and a 14-item subset was identified that sufficiently measures the same construct. Our C-SDF scale performed less well in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability; factor analysis revealed 2 factors, 1 of which was moderately related to the CSD. The 14-item subset of the CSD scale may help researchers understand error in children's dietary reports.

Preliminary Validation of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS)

Two studies investigated the psychometricproperties of the Brief MultidimensionalStudents' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994). In Study 1, 221 middle schoolstudents completed the Brief MultidimensionalStudents' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS),Multidimensional Students' Life SatisfactionScale, Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS:Huebner, 1991a), Positive and Negative AffectSchedule-Children's Version (Laurent et al.,1999), Children's Social Desirability Scale(Crandall et al., 1965), and a one-item globallife satisfaction rating (GLLS). Students alsorated the importance of the BMSLSS five lifesatisfaction domains (Family, Friends, School,Self, Living Environment). The results revealedacceptable internal consistency reliability,criterion-related validity, and constructvalidity for the BMSLSS Total score forresearch purposes. Furthermore, evidence ofconvergent and discriminant validity for theBMSLSS domain scores was also obtained throughmultitrait-multimethod analyses. Finally, theresults failed to provide strong support forthe usefulness of importance scores inpredicting overall life satisfaction;unweighted BMSLSS scores were highly related toglobal life satisfaction (GLLS) scores. InStudy 2, 46 high school students completed theBMSLSS and MSLSS to test the generalizabilityof the convergent and discriminant validityfindings with older adolescents. The findingsrevealed stronger evidence of validity withthis age group. Overall, the findings offered preliminary support for the reliability andvalidity of the BMSLSS, suggesting that it canserve as a useful alternative to the longerMSLSS in studies with adolescents in whichbrevity is an important consideration.

Low-End Specificity of Childhood Measures of Emotional Distress: Consistent Effects for Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in a Nonclinical Population

Previous research regarding the low-end specificity of self-report measures of affective distress in children suggests that defensiveness acts differentially to lower scores on self-report measures of depressive symptoms, but not on self-report measures of anxiety. This investigation examined this issue in a nonclinical sample of 442 children, ages 7 to 16. Participants completed measures of depressive symptoms (Children's Depression Inventory), anxiety symptoms (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children) and defensiveness (Children's Social Desirability Scale). In contrast to previous research, the results in this study indicated similar effects of defensiveness on measures of depressive symptoms and anxiety. Low-end depression participants obtained significantly higher defensiveness scores, as did low-end anxious participants. In an attempt to circumvent the effects of defensiveness, we measured anhedonia (Pleasure Scale for Children, or PSC) as a proxy of depressive symptoms. We also found the PSC to be subject to the effects of defensiveness at approximately the same magnitude as the measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Child report of treatment issue resolution: Pilot of a rapid assessment instrument

The goals of this project concerned the construction and pilot of a rapid assessment self-report measurement tool to be used with child and adolescent sexual abuse victims to ascertain the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic intervention. One hundred and three 10 to 17-year-old girls who had been the targets of intrafamilial child sexual abuse (incest) participated in the research. Child and adolescent participants completed the draft instrument, the Child Report of Treatment Issue Resolution, as well as the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children and the Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire. The research participants' caretakers completed the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist and a background questionnaire. Reliability of the study instrument was found to be .94. Content validity was quantified through a process of expert ratings of individual item relevance. Criterion and construct validity are supported by a substantial correlation between the study instrument and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (−.74) and a moderate correlation between the study instrument and the Child Behavior Checklist for Children (−.40). The correlation between the study instrument and the Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire (.45) did not provide evidence of discriminate validity.

Correlates of Hypnotizability in Children: Absorption, Vividness of Imagery, Fantasy Play, and Social Desirability

This study examined correlates of hypnotizability in children that had previously been reported for adults. Forty-two children (ages 7-14) completed the Fantasy Questionnaire (FQ), the Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire (CSDQ), the Zelter and LeBaron (1984) revision of the Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale for Children (SHCS:C-R), and the Children's Fantasy Inventory: Absorption and Vividness Scales (CFI: A & V). The nine-item SHCS:C-R yields separate scores for Observed Behavior (OB), and Realness (R), as well as a Total Score (TS). Results indicated significant correlations between SHCS:C-R scores and those for CFI: A & V, and the FQ (r = .42-.53) but not for the CSDQ. On the SHCS:C-R, correlations between R (involuntariness) scores and the above measures were not appreciably different from those found for OB scores. Observations suggested that attitudes towards hypnosis may influence children's hypnotic responsiveness.

Social desirability response tendencies in psychiatric inpatient children.

This study examined the substantive features of children's social desirability (SD) tendencies that could influence the nature and severity of psychopathology. Examinations of substantive features of SD responding in an inpatient child psychiatry unit (N = 76) suggested that higher scores on the Children's Social Desirability questionnaire were associated strongly with (1) lower mental age; (2) higher scores on self-reported social competence; (3) lower scores on self-reported anger; and (4) lower scores on parent-reported externalization behavioral disturbance. Results were interpreted as suggesting that SD responding for child inpatients may reflect a mixed picture of negative features of cognitive and social immaturity that could affect adversely their ability to judge their own and others' social behavior and of positive features of less external behavioral disturbance and more prosocial attitudes and behaviors.

The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory: A Construct Validation Study

The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) was examined using a modified version of the Sabers and Whitney model for construct validation. The SEI, Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale (CSCS), and Children's Social Desirability Scale (CSDS) were administered to 55 males and 50 females enrolled in six intact fifth-grade classes. Each student also received a teacher rating of self-concept using the Coopersmith Behavioral Academic Assessment Scale (BASE). Regression analyses indicated that the SEI has convergent validity with regard to the CSCS ( p < .01) and BASE ( p < .01), has discriminant validity with regard to the CSDS ( p > .05), is sensitive to differences in achievement level ( p < .01), and is internally consistent (coefficient alpha = .86). Intra-rater stability for the BASE ranged from .85 to .97; average inter-rater agreement was .86.

Children's Social Desirability Ratings of Ingratiation Tactics

Fifty-eight children drawn from schools in Pennsylvania and Illinois were administered a questionnaire made up of scenarios depicting ingratiation tactics directed toward three types of targets (parents, teachers, or peers). The children, 22 of whom were diagnosed as learning disabled, were asked to rate the social desirability of each tactic. Learning disabled and nondisabled children judged the social desirability of the items similarly. The children's judgments were then compared with adult judgments of the social desirability of the same items obtained in a previous study. It was found that children and adults both judged tactics in the context of target or setting, and that they appeared to agree about the desirability of particular tactics directed toward particular targets.

Interrelationships among dependency, empathy, and sharing

The sharing behavior of 66 fourth-grade students was observed in two different experimental situations: (a) in the experimenter's presence (visible sharing), and (b) anonymously (invisible sharing). In addition, measures of empathy and dependency were given to each child. For girls some support was found for a positive relationship between empathy and sharing in both of the experimental conditions; also, moderate dependency, as measured by peer and teacher ratings, was related to invisible sharing. The correlations found among the variables were quite different for boys. Both empathy and dependency, as measured by the Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire, were negatively related to invisible sharing, and empathy was positively correlated to social desirability scores. Also, as indicated by curvilinear analyses, the interrelationships among these variables for boys were more complex than were suggested by simple linear correlations.

Social Desirability Response Bias in Children's Locus of Control Reports

As part of a comprehensive evaluation of an in-school parenting education curriculum, 281 junior high school students in a major urban school district completed both the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children and the Crandall, Crandall, and Katkovsky Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire. Potential differences in influence of social-desirability response bias on the locus scores of students of differing race and sex were explored via zero-order correlations and bivariate regression. Although mean scores of black respondents were significantly higher than those of their white counterparts on measures of social-desirability response bias and external locus of control, Children's Social Desirability scores never accounted for more than 1% of the variance in the locus of control scores of any subgroup.

A Validity Study of Selected Self-Concept Instruments

This study investigated the construct validity of four self-report, self- concept instruments: Bledsoe Self-Concept Scale (BSCS), Children's Self-Concept Scale (CSCS), Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) and Purdue Self-Concept Scale (PSCS). In assessing the self-concepts of 175 fourth-grade children the convergent validity of the tests was not established. No significant correlations were found between any of the instruments and the Behavioral Rating Form (BRF) even though the instruments correlated significantly with each other. When considering discriminant validity, only the BSCS (in the case of the total sample) and the females fulfilled the criteria of a significant negative correlation with the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS), and a nonsignificant correlation with the Children's Social Desirability Scale (CSDS). Factor analysis extracted three interpretable factors: perceived adjustment, social desirability, and complexity. The findings suggest that anxiety and self-concept scales may be measuring the same underlying factor or construct and that sex may be an important variable affecting response style.

Social Desirability Responses in Jewish and Arab Children in Israel

As part of a larger study on personality characteristics of children from different cultural groups in Israel, a Hebrew and Arab version of the Children's Social Desirability Scale (CSD) was administered to a sample of 1024 Jewish and Arab students in grades 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. The Jewish subjects in the Israeli sample had a significantly higher SD level than the American standardization sample, which replicates earlier findings by Crandall and Gozali (1969). Comparisons within the overall sample show that the Arabs had a significantly higher SD score than their Jewish counterparts at all ages. Within the Arab subsample, Moslems scored significantly higher than Christians; in the Jewish subsample no significant differences were found between religious and nonreligious subjects. No overall sex differences were found. These findings can be viewed against the background of certain specific cultural and psychological variables within these two major cultural-ethnic population groups in Israel.

Children's Social Desirability Response Tendencies and Wechsler Comprehension and Picture Arrangement Performance

The Children's Social Desirability Scale (3) consists of items representing behaviors and attitudes which are either culturally sanctioned and approved but occur infrequently, or are culturally disapproved but occur frequently. Approval-motivation has been inferred from the degree to which an individual endorses questionnaire items describing himself on a conrinuum of desirability as opposed to their manifest concent. While high approval-motivation has been shown to be related to conformity to perceived social-situational demands (4. 5), Brannigan, Duchnowski, and Nyce (2) have suggested that for young children this response tendency may also reflect heightened sensitivity and competence in situations. To test this hypothesis 109 boys and 113 girls from the first, third and fifth grades of a public elementary school were administered the Children's Social Desirability Scale in rheir homerooms and individually administered the WISC Comprehens~on and Picture Arrangement subtests. The WISC subtests have been characterized as verbal and nonverbal measures of social competence respectively ( 1 ). Separate product-moment cor

Causal priority of social desirability over self-concept: a cross-lagged correlation analysis.

The study examined the causal relationship between social desirability (SD) and self-concept (SC). Two self-report instruments--Crandall's Children's Social Desirability Scale and the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale--were administered before and after a 9-month therapeutic treatment designed to enhance self-concept. Subjects were 57 upper elementary pupils in a laboratory research school. Three hypotheses were proposed: (a) There is a positive correlation between SD and SC; (b) SD is more stable across time than SC; and (c) SD is causally prior to SC. Cross-lagged panel correlation analysis supported all three hypotheses. Discussion centers on a causal explanation of the distorting effect of SD upon SC scores.

Descriptive statistics for two children's social desirability scales, general and test anxiety, and locus of control in elementary school children.

As part of a larger study of articulatory deviant children, 5 personality instruments were administered to 671 children in Grades 1 through 5 in 7 public schools. Complete descriptive statistics on grade by sex samples, analyses of variance for grade by sex by school effects, test-retest coefficients, and intercorrelations are presented. Comparison of the descriptive data and published norms suggests that investigators should give serious consideration to possible influences of stimulus modes, response modes, and examiner behaviors on children's self-report scores for these constructs. Inter- and intra-scale characteristics look promising for multivariate analyses of the role of these constructs as trait, moderator, or suppressor variables in predicting articulation improvement with or without speech therapy.

Comparison of Yes-No and True-False Forms of the Children's Social Desirability Scale

Comparison of Yes-No and True-False Forms of the Children's Social Desirability Scale