[Age-related differences in the effect of social desirability on self-reported emotional state].
BACKGROUND
It is usually assumed that social desirability increases with ageing, correlates with measures of emotional well-being, and represents a potential threat to research in older adults, and should therefore be systematically controlled. However, this assumption is controversial and lacks a strong empirical basis. The present study aimed to analyze the association between social desirability and measures of emotional well-being, as well as to test for age-related differences in the changes produced in emotional state after experimental anxiety induction.


METHODS
We randomly assigned 149 individuals (92 university students and 52 older adults) to one of three groups: a control group and two intervention groups in which anxiety was experimentally induced.


RESULTS
Social desirability scores were significantly higher in older persons (Hedges'g=1.22). No statistically significant correlations were found in any age group between social desirability and measures of emotional well-being. Likewise, in a series of univariate ANOVAs, no differences were found according to the degree of social desirability in changes in emotional state after anxiety induction. Overall, social desirability was not related to the changes produced by experimental anxiety induction.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study confirms the association between social desirability and age. However, social desirability did not seem to correlate with emotional well-being in any age group. Moreover, social desirability was not related to changes in emotional state after experimental anxiety induction. These results do not support the view that social desirability is a threat to the validity of experimental studies in the elderly.
Nuevo
Roberto
R
Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Servicio de Psiquiatría, Madrid, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, Madrid, España. roberto.nuevo@uam.es
Montorio
Ignacio
I
Márquez-González
María
M
Cabrera
Isabel
I
Izal
María
M
Pérez-Rojo
Gema
G
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012928:Social Desirability; D055815:Young Adult