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Impression management and self-report among violent offenders
Jeremy F Mills1, Daryl G Kroner
1Psychology Department, Bath Institution, Carleton University, ON, Canada. MillsJF@csc-scc.gc.ca
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
|December 22, 2005
Summary
This study found that controlling for socially desirable responding (SDR) in offenders did not improve predictions of criminal recidivism. Impression management scores, a type of SDR, were linked to lower antisocial attitudes but removing them did not significantly impact outcome prediction.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Psychology
- Criminology
- Psychological Measurement
Background:
- Offenders often use socially desirable responding (SDR) on self-report measures.
- Prior research suggests controlling for SDR doesn't enhance predictive validity of self-report measures for antisocial constructs.
- Despite this, self-report measures often predict criminal outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between SDR (self-deception and impression management) and self-reported antisocial attitudes.
- To examine how SDR relates to criminal recidivism in violent offenders.
- To test the theoretical assumption that controlling for SDR improves self-report outcome relationships.
Main Methods:
- Assessed SDR, specifically self-deception and impression management, in a sample of violent offenders.
- Measured self-reported antisocial attitudes.
- Correlated these measures with criminal recidivism data.
Main Results:
- Offenders with higher impression management reported fewer antisocial attitudes.
- Partialing impression management from antisocial attitudes showed a trend towards diminishing the relationship with recidivism, though not statistically significant.
- This result contradicts the expectation that controlling for SDR would strengthen the predictive power of self-report measures.
Conclusions:
- The findings challenge the routine practice of removing impression management from self-report data in offender populations.
- The predictive validity of self-report measures for criminal recidivism may not necessarily improve after controlling for SDR.
- Further research is needed to understand the complex interplay between SDR, self-reported attitudes, and actual criminal behavior.