A Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire.

A Children's Social Desirability (CSD) questionnaire was constructed and administered to 956 Ss in Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12. A direct question ("yes-no") form of the scale was presented to children in the 3rd, 4th, and Sth grades in individual testing sessions, and a true-false form was given older Ss in group sessions. For both forms of the questionnaire, split-half reliabilities and test-retest (1-month interval) reliabilities were high. Socially desirable responses were more frequently given by younger children than by older children, by dull Ss than by bright Ss, by girls than by boys, and by Negro children than by white children. Social class, size of family, and ordinal position were not associated with CSD responses. Questions were raised pertaining to the generality of this response and pertaining to the premises on which this measure of social desirability, as well as that of Crowne and Marlowe, is based.