Influence of Social-Desirability Responding on the Sarason Test Anxiety Scale: Implications for Selection of Subjects

Abstract

The relationship between the concepts of social desirability and test anxiety as assessed by Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale was examined. Sarason's scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were administered to 137 women and 62 men under nonanonymous evaluative conditions. Although high social-desirability respondents reported lower levels of test anxiety, the correlation was significant for women only. It was concluded that the Test Anxiety Scale is not seriously compromised by social desirability bias. However, the meanings and implications of the significant relation were further explored by considering two-factor interpretations of social desirability. The use of the Marlowe-Crowne scale to identify defensive subjects low in test anxiety was examined. Approximately 30% of potential low-anxious subjects were classified as defensive low-anxiety subjects. The results suggest that the Marlowe-Crowne scale may be used in research to differentiate genuine from defensive low test-anxious subjects.