Copyright © 2005 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
PRACTICE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY |
The Effect of Social Desirability and Social Approval on Self-Reports of Physical Activity
1 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
2 South Carolina Cancer Center, Columbia, SC.
3 Division of General Internal Medicine and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.
4 Division of Endocrinology, Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
5 South Carolina Comprehensive Breast Center, Palmetto Health, Columbia, SC.
6 Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center, Charleston, SC.
The purpose of this investigation was to examine social desirability and social approval as sources of error in three self-reported physical activity assessments using objective measures of physical activity as reference measures. In 1997, women (n = 81) living in Worcester, Massachusetts, completed doubly labeled water measurements and wore an activity monitor for 14 days. They also completed seven interviewer-administered 24-hour physical activity recalls (PARs) and two different self-administered 7-day PARs. Measures of the personality traits "social desirability" and "social approval" were regressed on 1) the difference between physical activity energy expenditure estimated from doubly labeled water and each physical activity assessment instrument and 2) the difference between monitor-derived physical activity duration and each instrument. Social desirability was associated with overreporting of activity, resulting in overestimation of physical activity energy expenditure by 0.65 kcal/kg/day on the second 7-day PAR (95% confidence interval: 0.06, 1.25) and overestimation of activity durations by 4.15–11.30 minutes/day (both 7-day PARs). Social approval was weakly associated with underestimation of physical activity on the 24-hour PAR (–0.15 kcal/kg/day, 95% confidence interval: –0.30, 0.005). Body size was not associated with reporting bias in this study. The authors conclude that social desirability and social approval may influence self-reported physical activity on some survey instruments.
energy metabolism; exercise; monitoring, physiologic; motor activity; social desirability; social environment
Abbreviations: MET(s), metabolic equivalent(s); PAR, physical activity recall.
Correspondence to Dr. Swann Arp Adams, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Richland Medical Park #15, Columbia, SC 29203 (e-mail: swann.adams{at}palmettohealth.org).
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