A consistent finding is that elderly people obtain higher scores on social
desirability (SD) scales than younger ones. It is usually assumed that elde
rly people are more eager to present themselves in a favourable way. Hence,
especially in survey-research among the elderly, it is common practice to
include SD-scales to correct for spurious relationships. In this article it
is argued that the assumptions underlying such practice are doubtful, beca
use SD-scores may be affected by a variety of factors but the tendency to p
resent oneself favourably. Two such factors related to the question-answeri
ng process are discussed in more detail. Empirical support is provided that
these factors may explain the relationship between the score on a SD-scale
and age. It is argued that using SD-scales to correct for relationships be
tween variables, may lead to erroneous results.