Does Social Desirability Confound the Assessment of Self-Reported Measures of Well-Being and Metacognitive Efficiency in Young and Older Adults?

Does social desirability influence psychological well-being: perceived physical health and religiosity of Italian elders? A developmental approach

“…Despite this profile, it should be noted that all groups displayed high mean scores for all indices of well-being relative to normative Italian data (De Beni et al, 2007). This observation aligns with previous reports (e.g., Fastame & Penna, 2012;Fastame et al, 2015) and thus lends further support to the idea that characteristics of the Sardinian psycho-social context promote well-being in the elderly (e.g., Carta et al, 2012;Fastame et al, 2015;. Nonetheless, the ANCOVA showed the significant effect of social desirability as covariate.…”

“…Thus, whereas Soubelet and Salthouse (2011) Aging & Mental Health, 2015http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2015 psychological well-being, other studies have recorded only a minimal impact (e.g., Phillips, Henry, Hosie, & Milne, 2006). Reasons for this discrepancy are unclear; however, preliminary evidence from a small sample suggested that social desirability may play a very significant effect in Sardinian elders (Fastame & Penna, 2012). For this reason, a circumspect approach incorporating a measure of social desirability was taken in the present investigation.…”

“…(3) Perceived physical health, lifestyle and age-related factors were expected to predict selfassessed psychological well-being (e.g., Fastame, Penna, Rossetti, & Agus, 2014;Kahneman & Krueger, 2006). Furthermore, concerning the impact of social desirability on the subjective psychological wellness of Italian elders, in agreement with several authors (e.g., Fastame & Penna, 2012;Soubelet & Salthouse, 2011) we can predict that the former impacts the latter. Nonetheless, one can also hypothesize that social desirability does not bias the self-assessment of psychological well-being (e.g., Phillips et al, 2006).…”

“…The Cronbach's alpha for the total score in our sample was 0.92. (6) The Marlowe and Crown Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS, Crowne & Marlowe, 1960; Italian adaptation for elderly people by Fastame & Penna, 2012) assesses the level of socially responding style of the respondent. The tool is composed of 33 true and false items describing socially acceptable but unlikely behaviors and socially rejected but probable situations.…”

“…(2) A preliminary interview that was originally developed by Fastame and Penna (2012) to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyle (e.g., time spent for leisure, gardening, reading and television) of the respondents. (3) Perceived physical health measure: a 10-point Likert scale containing a single item was presented in order to assess how the respondent judged his/her health (i.e., how do you physically feel?).…”