Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and short Form C: forensic norms

Abstract

Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC) (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) scores were collected on 1096 individuals involved in forensic evaluations. No prior publication of forensic norms was found for this instrument, which provides a measure of biased self-presentation (dissimulation). MC mean score was 19.42 for the sample. Also calculated was the score on Form C (MC-C) (Reynolds, 1982), and the mean for this 13-item scale was 7.61. The scores for the current sample generally are higher than those published for non-forensic groups, and statistical analysis indicated the difference was significant for both the MC and MC-C (d =.75 and.70, respectively, p <.001). Neither gender nor educational level proved to be significant factors in accounting for variance, and age did not appear to be correlated with scores. Group membership of subjects based on referral reason (family violence, abuse, neglect, competency, disability) was significant for both the MC and MC-C scores. Results suggest the MC or MC-C can be useful as part of a forensic-assessment battery to measure biased self-presentation.