Social desirability and the measurement of psychological well-being in elderly persons

The discriminant validity of two commonly used measures of life satisfaction was investigated. The Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index-B, and two theoretically unrelated self-report measures were completed by 60 alumni of West Virginia University, aged 66 to 86 years. Convergent validity of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index-B was established (r = .64, p less than .0001), but both also correlated significantly with a measure of social desirability (r = .70 and .58, respectively, p less than .0001). The need for more basic work on measurement of life satisfaction in elderly persons was discussed.