Improving the Validity of Affective Self-Report Measures Through Constructing Personality Scales Unconfounded With Social Desirability: a Study of the Personality Research Form1

Abstract

Jackson's Personality Research Form (PRF) was investigated at the item and scale level with respect to the degree to which responses are confounded by social desirability. Jackson's usage of the differential validity index resulted in large proportions of items neutral in social desirability and scales relatively balanced in the number of items keyed for socially desirable and socially undesirable responses. These item and scale characteristics, the low correlations of PRF trait scales with social desirability scale scores, and the results of a component analysis of PRF trait scales and social desirability scales supported the discriminant construct validity of the PRF trait scales with respect to social desirability.

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