Internal and external validity of scores on the balanced inventory of desirable responding and the paulhus deception scales

The internal and external validity of scores on the two-scale Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) and its recent revision, the Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS), developed to measure two facets of social desirability, were studied with three groups of forensic clients and two groups of college undergraduates (total N = 519). The two scales were statistically significantly related in all groups and for both versions of the inventory. A two-factor congeneric, orthogonal measurement model was rejected for all groups. However, a two-factor model that allowed cross-loadings among the items and correlation between the factors provided adequate fit. Concurrent validity data showed scores on both the Impression Management and Self-Deceptive Enhancement (SDE) scales to be satisfactory measures of their respective constructs and also of general social desirability, for both forensic clients and undergraduates. An exception was found in lower validity correlates for scores on the SDE scale in the PDS form.