Well-Being Scales Do Not Measure Social Desirability

To examine the contention that well-being scales are contaminated by socially desirable responding, three well-being measures were correlated with peer ratings of neuroticism before and after controlling for Edwards' social desirability in a sample of 62 adult men and women. Because social desirability was correlated with rated neuroticism, "correcting" for social desirability bias decreased, rather than increased, the validity of well-being measures as judged against an external criterion. Findings support the position that self-reports of well-being can generally be taken as veridical assessments.