Intentional Falsification in Reports of Interpartner Aggression

• NCJ Number: 118533
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1989) Pages: 220-232
• Author(s): D S Riggs; C M Murphy; K D O'Leary
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A version of this article was presented at the Third National Family Violence Research Conference, Durham, New Hampshire, July 1987.

Annotation

The current study examined the willingness of subjects to report relationship aggression in self-report data about socially undesirable behavior.

Abstract

Male and female undergraduate students rated the likelihood that they would report the occurrence of various hypothetical behaviors on an anonymous questionnaire. Subjects rated themselves much less likely to report physical aggression than other positive and negative relationship behavior. Subjects also displayed more willingness to report being the victims rather than the perpetrators of physical aggression. These results converged with evidence from other methods of assessing social desirability response bias to suggest that victim reports of interpartner aggression were less biased than aggressor reports. The results were further discussed in terms of a two-component model of social desirability bias, involving conscious dissimulation and unconscious self-deception. Tables, figures, notes and 18 references. (Author abstract modified)