Social Desirability Scale Research Articles

Courage over comfort

Courage over comfort

Factors associated with depression among HIV/AIDS children in China

BackgroundDepression in HIV/AIDS children not only worsens the progression and outcome of illness, but also impacts their quality of life, having a negative influence on society. The present study was conducted from a psychosocial perspective, considering children’s social desirability, cognitive emotion regulation, and perceived social support to identify the factors influencing depression in HIV-infected children in China.MethodsParticipants were 155 children aged 8–18 years who were eligible to participate in this study assessing depression and associated risk factors using the Children’s Depression Inventory, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Children’s Social Desirability scale. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was conducted to model the effects of social desirability, perceived social support, and cognitive emotion regulation on depression in HIV/AIDS children.ResultsStatistically significant linear relationships were found among social desirability, perceived social support, partial dimensions of cognitive emotion regulation, and children’s depression scores. Perceived social support, planning and positive reappraisal were negatively related to the depression. Conversely, social desirability, catastrophizing and other-blame were positively associated with the depression. Linear regression analysis indicated that children’s social desirability, perceived social support, and one dimension of cognitive emotion regulation (catastrophizing) were found to significantly predict depression.ConclusionsPsychosocial factors have an important influence on the depression experienced by HIV-infected children. Interventions from personal subjective psychosocial to reduce depression in HIV-infected children in China are warranted.

Predictors of self-perceived cultural responsiveness in entry-level physiotherapy students in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

BackgroundEnsuring physiotherapy students are well prepared to work safely and effectively in culturally diverse societies upon graduation is vital. Therefore, determining whether physiotherapy programs are effectively developing the cultural responsiveness of students is essential. This study aimed to evaluate the level of self-perceived cultural responsiveness of entry level physiotherapy students during their training, and explore the factors that might be associated with these levels.MethodsA cross sectional study of physiotherapy students from nine universities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand was conducted using an online self-administered questionnaire containing three parts: The Cultural Competence Assessment tool, Altemeyer’s Dogmatism scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale- short form. Demographic data relating to university, program, and level of study were also collected. Data was analysed using one-way ANOVA, t-tests and multiple regression analysis.ResultsA total of 817 (19% response rate) students participated in this study. Overall, students had a moderate level of self-perceived cultural responsiveness (Mean (SD) = 5.15 (0.67)). Fewer number of weeks of clinical placement attended, lower levels of dogmatism, and greater social desirability were related to greater self-perceived cultural responsiveness. Additionally, fourth year undergraduate students perceived themselves to be less culturally responsive than first and second year students (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThese results provide educators with knowledge about the level of self-perceived cultural responsiveness in physiotherapy students, and the factors that may need to be assessed and addressed to support the development of culturally responsive practice.

Adaptación de la Aversion to Risk Taking Scale en Conductores Argentinos

La percepcion de riesgo constituye uno de los principales factores que afecta el comportamiento humano y las decisiones en la conduccion. El objetivo de este estudio fue examinar las propiedades psicometricas de la Aversion to Risk Taking Scale en una muestra accidental de 447 conductores (54,4% hombres; edad: 18-78 anos) de Cordoba, Argentina. Se aplico la escala junto con medidas de deseabilidad social, autoeficacia para la conduccion y conduccion riesgosa. Analisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio sustentan la estructura unidimensional de la escala, en consonancia con la version original. La consistencia interna de la escala fue aceptable (alfa ordinal = 0,77) y se obtuvo evidencia de validez concurrente. Se correlacionaron los puntajes de la escala con una medida de deseabilidad social del conductor, obteniendose correlaciones nulas o muy debiles. En conjunto, los resultados son satisfactorios y avalan el uso de la escala en el contexto argentino. Se discuten las implicaciones de este trabajo para la investigacion psicologica aplicada al transito y se proponen recomendaciones tendientes a mejorar el contenido de la escala a partir de la inclusion de nuevos items.

Transitioning to university: Coping styles as mediators between adaptive-maladaptive perfectionism and test anxiety

Test anxiety is an important issue in academic settings as it is related to high drop-out rates. Despite research highlighting the effects of test anxiety in students, few studies have examined mechanisms that explain the relationship between students' pre-dispositions and their experience of test anxiety. To shed light on how universities can support students during the first year of university, the current study used Spielberger and Vagg's (1995) transactional process model of test anxiety as a framework for examining whether multiple coping styles explain the relationships between adaptive/maladaptive perfectionism and test anxiety. Participants (148) were first year students from south-east Queensland universities. Participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale - 21, Almost Perfect Scale - Revised, Brief COPE Inventory, Test Anxiety Inventory, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Findings indicated that adaptive/maladaptive perfectionism worked through avoidant emotion-focused coping to predict levels of test anxiety. Thus, students with adaptive perfectionism may experience less test anxiety as they use less avoidant emotion-focused coping whereas students with maladaptive perfectionism may experience more test anxiety as they use more avoidant emotion-focused coping.

Repressors exhibit lower cortisol reactivity to group psychosocial stress

Repressors are well-known to monitor potential psychosocial threats to their self-esteem and self-concept. In research, repressors are traditionally categorised as those scoring low on trait anxiety and high on defensiveness (as measured by social desirability scales). Examining repressors’ cortisol reactivity to a group socio-evaluative laboratory stressor could be an important way to extend work on the classic ‘repressor dissociation’, which proposes that this group experience higher levels of physiological stress, but lower levels of subjective affect, during stressful situations. Research however has focused mainly on repressors’ higher, more risk-prone levels of autonomic, rather than hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA), reactivity to stressful stimuli. We assessed cortisol reactivity using a group-based acute psychosocial stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test for groups (TSST-G), which required participants to individually perform public speaking and mental arithmetic tasks in front of up to six other group members, as well as an evaluative panel of judges. Seventy-seven healthy young females (mean age ± SD: 20.2 ± 3.2 years) took part, of which 64 met the conventional criterion for a response to the TSST-G (<15.5% increase from baseline sample). The Stress-Arousal Checklist was completed pre- and post-TSST-G. Participants also completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. The latter two measures were used to provide a categorisation of repressive coping style. Participants identified as repressive copers exhibited significantly lower cortisol reactivity during the TSST-G. Repressors also self-reported less subjective stress. These findings provide some evidence against the notion of the repressor dissociation and are discussed in terms of how cortisol hyporeactivity may be a pathway through which repressive coping adversely affects health.

A multi-informant study of the influence of targets’ and perceivers’ social desirability on self-other agreement in ratings of the HEXACO personality dimensions

In the current research we evaluated the impact of socially desirable responding on the strength of self-other agreement in personality judgments. We used a multi-informant design with self- and other-reports of HEXACO personality dimensions as well as self-reported and other-reported social desirability. Analyses were based on 305 primary participants and 709 informants. As shown by the results, neither self-other agreement nor other-other agreement regarding the personality dimensions was affected by social desirability. Furthermore, significant correlations between self-rated and other-rated social desirability emerged. The results are discussed as further evidence that most social desirability scales seem to measure substantive personality traits instead of response styles.

Needs of parents in a surgical neonatal intensive care unit.

While there is evidence of parental needs in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), parents of newborns admitted for general surgery are an under-researched population. This study aimed to identify needs in parents of newborns admitted to the NICU for general surgery and whether health-care professionals meet these needs. This was a prospective cohort study of 111 parents (57% mothers) of newborns admitted to a surgical NICU for general surgery in Australia from January 2014 to September 2015. Parents completed the Neonatal Family Needs Inventory (NFNI), comprising 56 items in five subscales (Support, Comfort, Information, Proximity, Assurance) at admission and discharge, as well as the Social Desirability Scale (SDS). Data were analysed using parametric and non-parametric techniques. At both admission and discharge, parents rated Assurance (M = 3.8, standard deviation (SD) = 0.24) needs as the most important, followed by Proximity (M = 3.6, SD = 0.32) and Information (M = 3.5, SD = 0.38). Mothers rated Assurance significantly more important than fathers (P < 0.02). Overall, parents' most important needs were having questions answered honestly (M = 3.96, SD = 0.19), seeing their infant frequently and knowing about the medical treatment (both M = 3.95, SD = 0.23). The 10 most important needs were met for more than 96% of parents, with no evidence of response bias. Reassurance is a priority need for parents in the surgical NICU. Mothers' and fathers' needs may be best met by practices based on family-centred, individualised care principles.

Validation and Application of the Social Desirability Scale (SDS-24)

Validation and Application of the Social Desirability Scale (SDS-24)

Social desirability, deceptive reporting, and awareness of problematic aggression in intermittent explosive disorder compared with non-aggressive healthy and psychiatric controls

Individuals with DSM-5 Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) are often suspected of minimizing the nature of their recurrent, problematic, impulsive aggressive behavior due to the social undesirability of these behaviors. Our first study involved 400 study participants categorized as Healthy Controls (HC), Psychiatric Controls (PC) and as having IED and included the Crowne-Marlowe Social Desirability Scale (SDS), the Lie Scale from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R Lie), and the Readiness to Change (Anger) Questionnaire (RTC). IED study participants had lower SDS and lower EPQ-R Lie scores, while having higher RTC scores, compared with both HC and PC study participants. Thus, when studied in a clinical research setting, IED study participants do not provide socially desirable answers to questions and do not engaging in deceptive reporting; likely because they have recognized their need/interest in reducing their own impulsive aggressive behavior. The second study, part of a family study of 70 probands and their first-degree relatives revealed a very high positive (96.3%), but substantially lower negative (55.8%), predictive power for IED based on informant report. This suggests that, while interview of close informants can confirm the diagnosis of IED, informant interviews cannot rule out IED when such informants provide a negative report.

Multidimensional Assessment of Social Desirability Bias: An Application of Multiscale Item Randomized Response Theory to Measure Academic Misconduct

AbstractIt is challenging for survey researchers to investigate sensitive topics due to concerns about socially desirable responding (SDR). The susceptibility to social desirability bias may vary not only between individuals (e.g., different perceptions about social norms) but also within individuals (e.g., perceived sensitivity of different items). Thus, controlling for SDR is particularly challenging when analyzing multidimensional constructs that are measured via multiple groups of items with varying degrees of sensitivity. In this research, we address this challenge using a combination of a randomized response (RR) approach for data collection and a multiscale item response theory (IRT) model for data analysis. While the RR approach protects the anonymity of respondents at the item level, the multiscale IRT approach accounts for the multidimensional nature of the construct and explicitly models the item-level differences in the measurement of its dimensions. We empirically demonstrate the benefits of the model using a multidimensional self-report instrument for the assessment of academic misconduct of university students. Based on an experiment with random assignment, our results uncover considerable differences in the perceived sensitivity, both between the construct dimensions and between their measurement items. These findings support the view that individuals engage in SDR to varying degrees depending on the perceived sensitivity of the specific items and groups of items. In contrast, a social desirability scale that treats SDR as a stable personality trait is not found to capture meaningful differences in response style. Finally, we show how structural models can be incorporated into the framework to link the latent construct’s dimensions to individual-level explanatory variables.

Eksplorasi Properti Psikometrik Kuesioner Takwa kepada Allah Ta'ala

Although Takwa kepada Allah Subahanahu wa Ta’ala became one of the main indicators for the success of national education goals, so far the learning evaluation at all educational level in Indonesia only provides information on academic achievement alone. The present study is expected to provide a valid and reliable learning evaluation instrument related to non-academic important indicators of national education objectives. The current study is a further study aimed at exploring psychometric properties Takwa toward Allah Subahanahu wa Ta’ala Questionnaire (KTA; Fikri & Kurniawan, 2013). The study involved 220 Islamic boarding school students, comprised 57.3% male students and 42.7% female students, and their age ranges 15 years old to 27 years old (M=17.7, SD=1.90 ). For the purposes of validating the KTA, Surrender to God Scale (SGS; Wong-McDonald & Gorsuch, 2000), Flourishing Scale (FS; Diener, Wirtz, Tov, Kim-Prieto, Choi, Oishi, & Biswas-Diener, 2009), Negative Affect Subscale of SPANE (NA Subscale of SPANE; Diener, Wirtz, Tov, Kim-Prieto, Choi, Oishi, & Biswas-Diener, 2009), and Reynolds Short-Form of Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (RSF-MCSDS; Reynolds & Gerbasi, 1982) were administered to them. The results of the study demonstrated the KTA has satisfying early psychometric evidence as a learning evaluation instrument. The findings, implications, and limits of the study are briefly discussed.

Predicting road safety behavior with implicit attitudes and the Theory of Planned Behavior

Introduction The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the most widely used psychological models when it comes to explaining road safety behaviors. Recently, studies have also been conducted from the perspective of dual-process models. However, the present is the first study on road safety behaviors that integrates both perspectives. The study evaluates the roles of both implicit attitudes and TPB constructs in the prediction of seatbelt use. Method A sample of 100 drivers completed: (1) a self-reporting instrument on seatbelt use, (2) a questionnaire addressing TPB constructs, (3) an indirect measure of attitudes (Implicit Association Test), and (4) a social desirability scale. Results Results suggest that both types of attitudes make a significant and quite similar contribution to the explanation of seatbelt use. Interestingly, implicit attitudes were a better predictor than explicit attitudes among participants reporting inconsistent seatbelt use. In addition, path analysis models suggested that implicit attitudes appear to be relatively independent of TPB constructs and have a direct effect on seatbelt use. Conclusion The findings advance the idea of adding implicit attitudes to variables from the TPB model in order to increase the explanatory power of models used to predict road safety behaviors. Practical applications Potential use of implicit attitude measures in the education and training of drivers are discussed.

PENGEMBANGAN SKALA SOCIAL DESIRABILITY

This research aims to develop a social desirability scale in Indonesian. The method used is mixed method. Participant in the exploration stage amounted to 400 subjects. Whereas, in the second stage, which purposed to identify a psychometric properties (reliability and validity), participant amounted to 501 subjects. Data analysis in the first stage was open coding. For the second stage data analysis consisted of reliability estimation using Cronbach’s Alpha and test of construct validity using factorial validity with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and convergent validity. The Result shows that the scale has a high reliability coefficient (α = 0.76). Whereas, the test of model fit with CFA shows that the scale fits with the data with index of fit value of Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.92, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.93, Root Mean Square of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.059, and Standardized Root Mean Residual (SRMR) = 0.052. A convergent validity also tested by correlating social desirability Indonesian scale with social desirability scale by Reynolds (1982).

The relationship of sensation seeking and social desirability with humor styles among Iranian salespersons

Given the different effects of adaptive and maladaptive humor on social interactions especially on workplaces, contradictory findings of sensation seeking for forming new relationships, and salespersons' tendency for being demanded and suitable for more sales, it is important to investigate how sensation seeking and social desirability along with background characteristics predict humor styles. The study sample included 150 Iranian salespersons selected through cluster sampling. The study had a correlation research design which drew on the three instruments of Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS), Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) and Humor Style Questionnaire (HSQ). The regression analysis findings showed that income level and gender were significant predictors of the humor style of affiliative. Additionally, only sensation seeking was found to be a significant predictor of self-enhancing. The humor style of aggressive was predicted by education level, gender, and social desirability. The humor style of self-defeating was also predicted by job experience, education level, gender and social desirability. It seems that personality traits such as sensation seeking along with social status can predict humor styles.

Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS)

BackgroundSelf-concept clarity is one of the features describing the structural aspect of the self. It refers to the extent to which the contents of an individual’s self-concept are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable. The aim of the study was to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS).Participants and procedureA total of 2507 graduates and undergraduates participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 18 to 70 years (M = 24.74, SD = 23.00); 66% of them were female. The Polish version of the SCCS was developed using the back-translation method. The SCCS was administered along with measures of sense of self (Sense of Self Scale), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), psychological distress (Goldberg General Health Questionnaire), personality (NEO-Five Factor Inventory), and social desirability (Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale).ResultsThe factor structure, reliability, and validity of the scale was investigated. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed a one-factor solution. Internal reliability and test–retest reliability was high. Significant relations between SCCS and weak sense of self, self-esteem, psychological distress, personality, and social desirability supported its convergent validity.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that the Polish version of the SCCS is a reliable and valid self-report measure for the self-concept clarity.

Using Overt and Covert Items in Self-Report Personality Tests: Susceptibility to Faking and Identifiability of Possible Fakers.

Self-report personality tests widely used in clinical, medical, forensic, and organizational areas of psychological assessment are susceptible to faking. Several approaches have been developed to prevent or detect faking, which are based on the use of faking warnings, ipsative items, social desirability scales, and validity scales. The approach proposed in this work deals with the use of overt items (the construct is clear to test-takers) and covert items (the construct is obscure to test-takers). Covert items are expected to be more resistant to faking than overt items. Two hundred sixty-seven individuals were presented with an alexithymia scale. Two experimental conditions were considered. Respondents in the faking condition were asked to reproduce the profile of an alexithymic individual, whereas those in the sincere condition were not asked to exhibit a particular alexithymia profile. The items of the scale were categorized as overt or covert by expert psychotherapists and analyzed through Rasch models. Respondents in the faking condition were able to exhibit measures of alexithymia in the required direction. This occurred for both overt and covert items, but to a greater extent for overt items. Differently from overt items, covert items defined a latent variable whose meaning was shared between respondents in the sincere and faking condition, and resistant to deliberate distortion. Rasch fit statistics indicated unexpected responses more often for respondents in the faking condition than for those in the sincere condition and, in particular, for the responses to overt items by individuals in the faking condition. More than half of the respondents in the faking condition showed a drift rate (difference between the alexithymia levels estimated on the responses to overt and covert items) significantly larger than that observed in the respondents in the sincere condition.

Vitiligo and social acceptance.

Background and aimVitiligo is a chronic skin disease characterized by a total or partial loss of melanocytes from the epidermis and other tissues of the skin. It is placed in the class of secondary psychiatric disorders and can also lead to psychological problems. The main aim of this study was to assess social acceptance in vitiligo patients.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted on all of the patients (n=150) with vitiligo who were referred to dermatology clinics in Rafsanjan, Iran. The patients completed a social acceptability questionnaire (Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale), and information regarding their demographic characteristics was also collected. Data were gathered and analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS-19 software.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 27.56±10.53 years and 65.9% were female. Mean score of social acceptance among the patients was 13.51±7.08. The results showed that the mean scores of social acceptance were significantly lower in women, in those with single marital status, in those with face and neck lesions, and in those with disease duration less than 5 years.ConclusionThe results showed that certain groups of patients with vitiligo are at greater risk of experiencing lower social acceptance.

Social desirability and sustainable food research: A systematic literature review

Social desirability bias could affect the results of research using self-reports, like questionnaires, which are the dominant approach to explore sustainable food consumption and its drivers. Despite various methodological and statistical approaches have been suggested to counteract social desirability, their use in research about sustainable food has not been systematically reviewed before. Therefore, a systematic literature review was carried out covering 388 peer-reviewed studies. The number of papers mentioning social desirability bias steadily increased since the 1990s. However, our results indicates that the overall proportion of relevant papers discussing it is low, with most of those doing so giving no clear indication about its causes and/or consequences for data quality. Moreover, few studies provide information about the data collection process, despite well-known situational factors influencing social desirability bias. A few papers implemented methodological remedies, like anonymity or proper scaling. Statistical remedies, like social desirability scales, were found in two studies only. Our findings suggest three major improvements in survey research about sustainable food. First, a better description of the data collection process is recommended, to better identify the limitations and strengths of a specific study. Second, procedural remedies against social desirability, which are now the gold standard in other survey-based disciplines, should be used more consistently. Finally, more research is needed adopting social desirability scales, which are relatively common in other fields of research using surveys (e.g. dietary studies), as well as specialized questioning techniques for sensitive answers.

The Jackson Career Explorer: Correlates With Self-Monitoring and Social Desirability.

The Jackson Career Explorer (JCE) is a short form and continuous version of the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey measuring 34 vocational interest dimensions which can be reduced to seven factors (six vocational interest factors and one work style factor). Both the scales and factors were examined for possible significant correlations with social desirability and self-monitoring. Volunteer participants (N = 779) aged 14 to 92 years completed the JCE, a social desirability scale, and a self-monitoring scale. Social desirability did not correlate significantly with the JCE scales and factors. Self-monitoring was found to correlate significantly with only a few of the JCE dimensions, including the performing arts, dominant leadership, and law scales as well as the business factor. Interestingly, the accountability JCE work style scale, which assesses a preference to work in an environment requiring high levels of honesty, had a significant negative correlation with self-monitoring. These results add to the validity of the JCE and add information to the area of vocational interest assessment.