The Context of HIV Risk Among Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners

TABLE 4. Cross-tabulation of laboratory results with self-reported
borrowing of a dirty needle (N = 27)
Self-report Did not borrow
Did not borrow 11
Did borrow 1
Total 12
X 2 = 8.33, p < 0.005; phi = 0.56.
Laboratory test
SELF-PRESENTATION BIAS IN SELF-REPORTS
Did borrow Total
6 17
9 10
15 27
Self-presentation bias is a problem ubiquitous in social research that
derives from the natural tendency of people to present themselves in a
socially desirable light. Past research on social desirability indicates this
tendency is more likely to manifest itself in situations that people find
particularly threatening or embarrassing (for a review, see DeMaio 1984).
Because the questions asked concerned sexual practices and illicit drug
use and usually are considered sensitive, the authors hypothesized that
self-presentation bias would be reflected to some degree in
underreporting of risk behavior.
Social Desirability
To determine whether this was true, the authors examined zero-order
relationships between self-reported risk behavior and a 20-item short
form of the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale (Strahan and
Gerbasi 1972). The short form demonstrated adequate reliability when
used with a college sample and correlated highly with the original
33-item scale.
Respondents endorsed a mean of half the items in a socially desirable
direction, which is comparable to results obtained with the college
sample.
To better examine the relationship between the scale and the self-reported
risk behaviors, the scores were collapsed into quartiles and
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