Test-retest reliability of a short form of the children's social desirability scale for nutrition and health-related research.

OBJECTIVE 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. METHODS 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. RESULTS 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. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 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.