Related Experiment Videos
Social desirability and irritable bowel syndrome
B B Toner1, E Koyama, P E Garfinkel
1Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto.
International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine
|January 1, 1992
Summary
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) exhibit higher social desirability scores than depressed patients and controls. This finding impacts psychological assessment and treatment strategies for IBS.
Area of Science:
- Psychological assessment
- Gastroenterology
- Clinical psychology
Background:
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder.
- Psychological factors, including social desirability, may influence symptom reporting in IBS patients.
- Previous research has not extensively explored social desirability response sets in IBS compared to other patient groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) exhibit higher levels of social desirability compared to psychiatric patients with major depression and healthy controls.
- To examine the implications of social desirability response bias for the psychological assessment and treatment of IBS.
Main Methods:
- The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, a 33-item self-report questionnaire, was administered.
- An age-matched sample included 25 IBS patients, 24 major depression patients, and 19 controls.
- Planned comparisons analysis was used to compare group scores.
Main Results:
- A significant group effect was found for social desirability scores.
- IBS patients scored significantly higher on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale than both the major depression group and the control group (p < .05).
Conclusions:
- Patients with IBS may present with a notable social desirability response set.
- This tendency could influence the interpretation of psychological assessments and self-reported symptoms in IBS.
- Clinical approaches to IBS assessment and treatment should consider and potentially address social desirability bias.