Response Bias in Surveys of Mental Health
An Empirical Investigation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7609724 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Walter R Gove, Michael R Geerken |
| Year | 1977 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1289-1317 |
| Publication date | 1977-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9602 • E-ISSN: 1537-5390 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/226466 |
| PMID | 889001 |
| OpenAlex | W2017917344 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 89 |
| References cited | 22 |
A substantial body of literature indicates that (1) the tendency to yeasay or naysay, (2) the perception of the desirability or undesirability of a given trai, and (3) the need for social approval have a significant and independent impact on the statements made by respondents in surveys. Most investigatiors concerned with response bias appear to believe that these response bias variables act as a form of systematic bias which significantly distorts the relationship observed between an independent and a dependent variable. However, while the literature indicates such a distortion may occur, this has not been demonstrated. Drawing on the data from a national survey, we look at the effect of these three forms of response bias on the pattern of relationships among seven demographic variables (sex, race, education, income, age, marital status, and occupation) and three very different indicators of mental health (psychiatric symptons, self-esteem, and feelings of positive affect). The results lead to an almost unequivocal conclusion: the response bias variables have very little impact on the relationship, and it seems safe to conclude that these sources of response bias do not act in a systematic way to invalidate the pattern of observed relationships between mental health and common demographic variables
Affect (linguistics · Feeling · Marital status · Mental health · Perception · Population · Psychiatry · Race (biology · Response bias · Sociology · Statistics · Variables · Clinical Psychology · Demography · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
Sexism, feminism and medicalism
Sex differences in positive well-being
Sex differences in unipolar depression
Mode of administration and interviewer effects in self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression
Psychological Disorders Among Chicanos
Können Befragte Lügen?
Epidemiology of women and depression
Measuring Service Quality in the Travel and Tourism Industry
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as a screening instrument for depression among community-residing older adults.
Dimensions of Life Events That Influence Psychological Distress
The social desirability response bias in ethics research
Social Data
Reliability of the CES-D scale in different ethnic contexts
Measurement and Control of Response Bias
Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms Revisited
To Shred or Not to Shred
Rethinking gender and mental health
Concretizing the concept of social stress
Sociodemographic and Health-Related Risk Factors Among African-American, Caucasian and Hispanic Homeless Men
Selbstberichte im Alter
Cognition, Aging and Self-Reports
OECD Guidelines on Measuring Trust
The Structure, Stability, and Social Antecedents of Reported Paranormal Experiences
The Effect of Interviewer Characteristics on Responses to a Mental Health Interview
A Response to the Comments of Walter R. Gove on Gender Differences in Health Risks and Physical Symptoms Among the Homeless
Socially-Desirable Response and Acquiescence in a Cross-Cultural Survey of Mental Health
The Maturational and Role Perspectives on Aging and Self Through the Adult Years
Living Alone, Social Integration, and Mental Health
The impact of culture on the cognitive structure of illness
Gender Differences in Urban Neighboring
Gender Differences in Job Satisfaction
Gender, Race, Social Class, and Self-Evaluations among College Students
A Strategy for Studying Differential Vulnerability to the Psychological Consequences of Stress
Gender Role Orientations and Styles of Pathology Among Adolescents
Sex Differences in Psychiatric Help-Seeking
The Stressfulness of Daily Social Roles for Women
Sex Differences in Depression; Do Women Always Have Higher Rates
Sex Differences in the Use of Physician Services
Does Marriage Have Positive Effects on the Psychological Well-Being of the Individual
Prevalence of Psychological Distress among Mexican Americans
Body and Mind
The effects of religion and social support on self-esteem and depression among the suddenly bereaved
Yea-saying and mood-of-the-day effects in self-reported quality of life
Gender differences in mental and physical illness
Determinants of drug use
Playing Dumb
An Application of Item Response Theory to the Measurement of Depression
Survey Research
Congruence Between Panel and Recall Data in Longitudinal Research
The Intergenerational Transmission of Marital Instability Reconsidered
Explaining Intergenerational Conflict When Adult Children and Elderly Parents Live Together
The Continued Salience of Methodological Issues for Measuring Psychiatric Disorders in International Surveys
Methods of coping with social desirability bias
Intellectual Ability and Educational Achievement as Predictors of Patients' Defensiveness
Public responses to Covid-19 information from the public health office on Twitter and YouTube
The Nobel Peace Prize Increased the Global Support for Women’s Organizations
Reporting experiences of panic
Interviewer Effects Among Older Respondents in the European Social Survey
Serious Sociological Games in the Elfe Cohort Study
An Indigenous Social Desirability Scale
The Politics of Personality Disorder
Mental Illness and Psychiatric Treatment Among Women
Sex-role expectations, power, and psychological distress
Depression and stereotypes of women
Sex differences in depressive symptom expression and help-seeking among college students
Gender and marital status differences in depression
The effect of demographic factors on perceptions of child neglect
Sex differences in mental illness among adult men and women
Social desirability does not confound reports of wellbeing or of socio-demographic attributes by older women
The measurement equivalence of Big-Five factor markers for persons with different levels of education
Sex and Mental Disorder
Married Women and Depressive Symptoms
The Long‐Term Effects of Parental Divorce in Childhood on Adult Adjustment
Trends in the Relationship Between Sex and Psychological Distress
Sex Differences in Distress
Possible Causes of the Apparent Sex Differences in Physical Health
Overcrowding in the Home
Assessing and Understanding Measurement Equivalence in Health Outcome Measures
Kernberg and Kohut
Psychological maladjustment among Asian and White American college students
Minority Status, Ethnic Culture, and Distress
Les enquêtés mentent-ils ? Incohérences de réponse et illusion biographique dans une enquête longitudinale sur les loisirs des adolescents
Parenthood and Psychological Well-Being
The Mediating Effects of Attachment to Social Structure and Psychosocial Resources on the Relationship Between Marital Quality and Psychological Distress
The Psychological Well-Being of Divorced and Widowed Men and Women
Gender, Marriage, and Psychosocial Well-Being
Survey Response Styles, Acculturation, and Culture Among a Sample of Mexican American Adults
Characterization and Categorization of Colombian Protestants in the Late 2010s
Labelling theory's explanation of mental illness
The structure of psychological well-being
The Quality of American Life
Society and the Adolescent Self-Image
The relationship between the judged desirability of a trait and the probability that the trait will be endorsed.
Social status and psychological disorder
Polygraph and Interview Validation of Self-Reported Deviant Behavior
A Twenty-Two Item Screening Score of Psychiatric Symptoms Indicating Impairment
Social-learning theory, social desirability, and the MMPI
The Health Opinion Survey
Knowledge from What? Theories and Methods in Social Research
Response bias in community surveys of mental health
The great response-style myth
Yeasayers and naysayers
Response Biases in Field Studies of Mental Illness
Sexual Status and Psychiatric Symptoms
Social Status and Psychological Disorder
Self-appraisal, personal desirability, and perceived social desirability of personality traits
The 22-Item Scale Used In Field Studies of Mental Illness
Some Considerations Concerning the Validity and Use of the Health Opinion Survey
Age and the Measurement of Mental Health
Adult Sex Roles and Mental Illness
Some Effects of 'Social Desirability' in Survey Studies
| Unique citing works | 89 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,85 |
| Citation span | 1978 - 2026 (49) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 86 |