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Effect of social desirability on adolescent girls' responses to an eating disorders prevention program
Author(s) -
Tilgner Linda,
Wertheim Eleanor H.,
Paxton Susan J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/eat.10239
Subject(s) - eating disorders , psychology , social desirability , adolescent development , developmental psychology , clinical psychology
Abstract Objective The current study examined whether a social desirability response bias is a source of measurement error in prevention research. Method Six hundred and seventy‐seven female students in Grade 7 (n = 345) and Grade 8 (n = 332) were divided into either an intervention condition, in which participants watched a videotape promoting body acceptance and discouraging dieting and then discussed issues related to the video, or a control condition. Questionnaires were completed at baseline, postintervention, and at 1‐month follow‐up. Results Social desirability scores were correlated at a low but significant level with baseline body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, bulimic tendencies, intention to diet, and size discrepancy for intervention participants. Social desirability did not correlate significantly with change over time in the outcome measures. Discussion The findings suggested that changes in girls' self‐reports related to a prevention program were relatively free of social desirability response bias. © 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 35: 211–216, 2004.