Culture, Gender, and Response Bias

Abstract

The possibility of culture and gender differences in response styles was explored. The responses of 1,717 participants aged 12-14 years from Australia, China, Nepal, Nigeria, and the Philippines to the Self-Description Questionnaire-I (SDQ-1) were analyzed for evidence of inconsistent responding, negativity or positivity bias, lack of profile variation, and social desirability. No evidence of a major social desirability factor but relatively substantial (effect sizes above 0.20) country and Country x Gender differences in response styles were found. These styles tended to correlate with scores on the academic rather than nonacademic self-esteem scales. This result may be due to participants with higher academic ability being more able to cope with the cognitive task of interpreting and answering consistently the items of the SDQ-1. Interpretations in terms of cultural dimensions such as individualism-collectivism were considered.