Social desirability, adequacy of social support and mental health

The extent to which the association between satisfaction with social suppor t and mental health was due to social desirability was determined. Whether this association differed between those high and low on social desirability was also examined. Measures consisted of the Crowne-Marlowe Scale, the Ade quacy of Social Integration and Attachment Indices, the General Health Ques tionnaire, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and four scales from the D elusions-Symptoms-States Inventory. The sample comprised 132 women and 93 m en randomly drawn from a larger sample of 756 selected at random from the C anberra electoral roll. Although social desirability was positively associa ted with satisfaction with social support and men;al health, the associatio n between mental health and satisfaction with social support was little red uced when social desirability was controlled, indicating that social desira bility did not account for the association between social support and menta l health. The association between satisfaction with social support and ment al health did not differ between those high and low in social desirability, suggesting that this association was not moderated by social desirability. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.