Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

1970, Vol. 34, No. 2, 236-238

ANXIETY, STRUCTURE, OR SOCIAL DESIRABILITY?1

ALLEN L. EDWARDS,2 JOHN D. CONE, JR., AND ROBERT D. ABBOTT
University of Washington

A control (C) scale in which the items do not match those in the Manifest
Anxiety (MA) scale or those in the Kimble-Posnick (K-P) scale in gram-
matical structure was found to have a correlation with the MA scale of
approximately the same magnitude as the K-P scale. It is suggested that the
correlation between the K-P scale and the MA scale is not the result of simi-
larity in the grammatical structure of the items in the two scales, but rather
results from the fact that most of the items in the K-P scale are, like those in
the C scale, keyed for socially undesirable responses.

In a recent article, Kimble and Posnick
(1967) describe a scale on which scores were
found to correlate .73 with scores on the
Taylor (19S3) Manifest Anxiety (MA) scale.
The interesting thing about the Kimble-
Posnick (K-P) scale is that an effort was
made to match the items with those in the
MA scale in terms of grammatical structure,
emotional importance, and social acceptabil-
ity. At the same time, efforts were made to
exclude any anxiety-related content. Because
the K-P scale correlated .73 with the MA
scale, they conclude that the specific phrasing
of the items in the MA scale must have some-
thing to do with scores obtained on the scale.
It is now well established that scores on
many personality scales are substantially cor-
related with scores on a scale designed to
measure the tendency to give socially desir-
able responses in self-description. For ex-
ample, it has been shown that scores on a
Social Desirability (SD) scale in which all
of the items are keyed for socially desirable
responses are positively correlated with other
trait scales in which all or most of the items
are also keyed for socially desirable responses.
When a trait scale has all or most of its
items keyed for socially undesirable responses,
scores on the scale tend to be negatively
correlated with scores on the SD scale. In
general, the correlations between scores on a
wide variety of trait scales and the SD scale
1
This research was supported in part by Research
Grant 2 R01 MH0407S-08 from the National Insti-
tute of Mental Health, United States Public Health
Service.
2
Requests for reprints should be sent to Allen L.
Edwards, Department of Psychology, University of
Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105.
236
have been found to be linearly related to the
percentage of items in the scales keyed for
socially desirable responses.
It is known that all of the items in the
MA scale are keyed for socially undesirable
responses and the correlation of scores on the
MA scale and the SD scale is high and nega-
tive (r = —.87; Edwards, 1957). One pos-
sible explanation of the positive correlation
between scores on the K-P and MA scales is
not that the items in the two scales have
similar structures, but rather that most of the
items in the K-P scale are also keyed for
socially undesirable responses. Thus, individu-
als with high rates of SD responding could
be expected to obtain low scores and indi-
viduals with low rates of SD responding could
be expected to obtain high scores on both the
K-P and MA scales.
METHOD
In an earlier study (Edwards, 1966), each of the
S66 items in the MMPI was matched with a non-
MMPI item in terms of the social desirability scale
values (SDSVs) of the MMPI items and without
regard to content or structure of the MMPI items.
The SO non-MMPI items corresponding to the MA
scale items, as scored in the MMPI, were selected
to form a control (C) scale, in the present study.
The SDSVs of the items in the C scale are well
matched with the SDSVs of the MA scale items as
scored in the MMPI. However, because Taylor re-
vised a considerable number of MMPI items, the C
scale items are not necessarily well matched with the
SDSVs of the items in the revised MA scale. None-
theless, for comparability with the Kimble and
Posnick study, the revised MA scale and not the
MMPI version was used. The C, MA, and K-P
scales were combined to form a ISO-item Inventory
by randomly selecting one MA item, one C item,
and one K-P item, repeating this sequence SO times.
As in the Kimble-Posnick study, scores on the K-P
 ANXIETY, STRUCTURE, OR SOCIAL DESIRABILITY? 237

and MA scales were obtained using the same scoring TABLE 1

stencil. The C scale items were scored in accordance
with the MMPI MA scale scoring key. This key is INTERCORRELATIONS BETWEEN THE MA, K-P, AND
identical with that for the K-P and revised MA C SCALES TOR MALES AND FEMALES, MEANS AND
scales except for two items. Scores on each scale STANDARD DEVIATIONS MR EACH SEX, AND
are based on a sample of 345 5s, 148 males and K-R 21 VALUES FOR THE COMBINED SAMPLE
197 females, all college students. Another independent
sample of 28 males and 45 females rated each of Females Males
the 150 items for social desirability in accordance H/f A K p
with the standard instructions given by Edwards
(1957). * SD X SD
RESULTS MA .851 .731 .708 16.47 8.13 14.35 7.72
Table 1 gives the correlations between K-P .737 .697 .610 20.63 6.16 19.34 S.92
scores on the MA, K-P, and C scales sepa- C .692 .607 .719 19.80 6.43 18.44 6.09
rately for males and females. It may be noted Note.—Correlations for females (2V = 197) and for males
that the correlations are practically identical (N •= 148) appear above and below the diagonal, respectively.
K.-R 21 values for the combined sample (N - 345) appear
for males and females, although some sex In the diagonal (italicized).
differences are found in mean scores on the
scales. The correlation of .73 between the scale, using the same scoring key, it is found
K-P and MA scales is the same as that re- that 40% or 80% of the items are keyed for
ported by Kimble and Posnick. The C scale socially undesirable responses. For the C
in which the items do not have structural simi- scale, 42% or 84% of the items are keyed for
larity with the items in the K-P and MA socially undesirable responses.
scales correlates .71 with the MA scale for
As Table 2 shows, the items in the C scale
females and .69 for males. For both males and
do not match the items in the MA or K-P
females, the C scale correlates .61 with the
K-P scale. scales, in terms of grammatical structure, and
Using the SDSVs of the ISO items as based the correlation of the C with the MA scale
on the ratings of the sample of 73 judges, cannot be attributed to this variable. The fact
the number of items keyed for socially desir- that both the K-P and C scales are cor-
able and socially undesirable responses for related with the MA scale in approximately
each of the three scales can be obtained. All the same degree may be accounted for by
SO of the revised MA scale items are keyed the one thing the K-P scale and the C scale
for socially undesirable responses. In the K-P have in common—that is, approximately the

TABLE 2
MATCHED SAMPLE ITEMS FROM THE MA, K-P, AND C SCALES

Scale Item

MA I have diarrhea ("the runs") once a month or more.

K-P I am the butt of a practical joke once a month or more.
C I get upset if anyone prevents me from having my own way.

MA When embarrassed I often break out in a sweat which is very annoying.

K-P When angry I often find the pitch of my voice rising which is very annoying.
C I become impatient if the waitress in a restaurant delays in bringing me my order.

MA I feel hungry almost all of the time.

K-P I feel stubborn almost all of the time.
C I become depressed if I am separated from my friends for any length of time.

MA I am a very nervous person.

K-P I am a very envious person.
C I have difficulty in thinking of anything to talk about when I am introduced to a stranger.
238 A. L. EDWARDS, J. D. CONE, JR., AND R. D. ABBOTT
same percentage of items in these two scales
are keyed for socially undesirable responses.
The Kuder-Richardson Formula 21 (K-R
21) values for the three scales, based on the
combined sample of 345 5s, are given in
the diagonal of Table 1. The K-R 21 value
of the MA scale is .85 and the corresponding
values for the C and K-P scales are .72 and
.70. A reasonable explanation of why the
K-R 21 value of the MA scale is somewhat
higher than those for the C and K-P scales
is that all of the items in the MA scale are
keyed for socially undesirable responses.
Edwards, Walsh, and Diers (1963) have
shown, for example, that scales in which all
of the items are keyed for either socially
desirable or for socially undesirable responses,
in general, have a higher degree of internal
consistency, as measured by the K-R 21 co-
efficient, than scales which have some de-
gree of balance in their social desirability-
undesirability keying.
DISCUSSION
It is suggested that if one were to take any
other set of items with approximately the
same SDSVs as the items in the MA scale,
and if these items are keyed for socially
undesirable responses, then it will be found
that scores on this scale are also positively
correlated with scores on the MA scale. Per-
haps a manifest characteristic of individuals
with high degrees of anxiety is that they
also tend to have relatively high rates of
giving socially undesirable responses in self-
description.
REFERENCES
EDWARDS, A. L. The social desirability variable in
personality assessment and research. New York:
Dryden Press, 1957.
EDWARDS, A. L. A comparison of 57 MMPI scales
and 57 experimental scales matched with the
MMPI scales in terms of item social desirability
scale values and probabilities of endorsement.
Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1966,
26, 15-27.
EDWARDS, A. L., WALSH, J. A., & DIERS, C. J. The
relationship between social desirability and in-
ternal consistency of personality scales. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 1963, 47, 255-259.
KIMBIE, G. A., & POSNICK, G. M. Anxiety?
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1967,
7, 108-110.
TAYLOR, J. A. A personality scale of manifest anx-
iety. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
1953, 48, 285-290.
(Received February 27, 1969)