The Hopelessness Scale & Social Desirability: More Data & a Contribution From the Irrational Beliefs Test

Findings regarding social desirability confounding on Beck’s hopelessness scale are presented. Data from 60 suicidal & nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients were examined for correlations between hopessness scores & suicidality. Controlling for social desirability did not affect this correlation, nor did use of sd scores in a discriminant analysis improve accuracy of classification into severely suicidal & nonsuicidal groups. Cautions about social desirability & Beck’s scale cannot be discounted.