Predictive validity despite social desirability: evidence for the robustness of self‐report among offenders

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Abstract
Introduction Many professionals believe that self‐report questionnaires used to predict recidivism have a low validity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the assumption that the validity of self‐report is vulnerable to self‐presentation biases in offender samples. Method The participants consisted of 124 male offenders who volunteered to complete the Self‐Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ). Results Lower scores on measures of social desirability were significantly associated with higher levels of risk (as measured by self‐report and a rated actuarial instrument) and a higher likelihood to re‐offend. Further, stepwise regression analysis revealed that social desirability added significantly unique variance in the prediction of violent recidivism. Discussion The authors propose that impression management may be an enduring person‐based characteristic within an offender sample rather than a situationally determined response style. The variance associated with this characterological information is proposed to be the source of the unique predictive variance. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd.