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Social desirability, defensiveness and self-report psychiatric inventory scores

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Katharine R. Parkes
Katharine R. Parkes*
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr K. R. Parkes, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OXI 3UD.
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Synopsis

The effects of social desirability and defensiveness on scores on 2 self-report psychiatric inventories, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire (MHQ) were investigated in a female subject group assessed for research purposes in an occupational setting. It was found that defensiveness did not affect the reporting of somatic symptoms, but it significantly affected the reporting of all psychological distress. The effect of social desirability was more specific, only the GHQ social dysfunction subscale showing a significant correlation, an effect attributable to the influence of the setting in which the data were obtained.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , November 1980 , pp. 735 - 742
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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