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Crowne and Marlowe (1960) developed the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) that is a widely used scale to measure social desirability defined as "the need of subjects to obtain approval by responding in a culturally appropriate and acceptable manner" (p. 353). Several studies from Psychology and Medicine areas have included the MCSDS. The MCSDS is used both to asses and to control for response bias in a socially desirable manner as well as to measure psychological concepts, such as defensiveness or need for approval. Moreover, the MCSDS is the standard measurement to categorize the four coping styles from Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson model (1979). Since the MCSDS first appeared, investigators have proposed several changes such as, short forms, computerized administrations, translations and adaptations to diverse cultures. In this study of development of the Escala de Deseabilidad Social de Crowne y Marlowe (EDSCM) is described. The EDSCM Scale is an adaptation to the Argentinian culture of the original MCSDS full scale with a paper-and-pencil administration form. A pilot study with a sample of Psychology student volunteers was conducted to adapt the MCSDS to Argentinian culture. One hundred nineteen Psychology college students (93 women and 26 men (M = 28 years; SD = 9.6) from two universities of the Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires (Republica Argentina) volunteered to participate in reliability and validity studies of the EDSCM Scale. The student sample participants completed the EDSCM, the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDIII), and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). For this student sample, the EDSCM scores ranged from 0 to 27, with a mean of 14.13 (SD = 4.99). EDSCM scores were normally distributed with no outlier values. The internal scale reliability of the EDS CM measured with Cronbach's alpha was .76. No statistically significant mean difference between sexes was found for the EDSCM Scale. A statistically significant association between the L Scale of EPQ and the EDSCM, with a large correlation effect size, provided convergent validity evidence for the EDSCM Scale. With regard to the divergent validity of the EDSCM Scale, a small to medium correlation effect size between the BDI-II and the EDSCM provided evidence that the EDSCM is a social desirability scale independent from Psychopathology. A sub-sample of students (n = 52) who previously completed the EDSCM Scale, completed the EDSCM again with instructions to imagine being in a hiring process. Comparing the normal (M = 15.94; SD = 4.81) and the differential instruction condition (M = 28.67; SD = 4.67) a statistically significant increase in the EDSCM scores was detected. To provide known-groups validity, the EDSCM scores derived from an adult sample were compared with the EDSCM scores derived from an applicant sample. The adult sample included 120 participants (73 women and 47 men; M = 35.6 years; SD = 15.9) and the applicant sample included 134 people (61 women and 73 men; M = 28.9 years, SD = 3.4). Both for the adult sample and the applicant sample, there was not statistically significant sex difference for the EDSCM Scale. The applicant condition (M = 23.66; SD = 5.37; α = .75) showed statistically significant higher EDSCM scores than the normal condition (M = 16.09; SD = 5.18; α = .84). In this article, the validity and reliability of the EDSCM Scale have been analyzed, as indicated by the study of convergent and divergent validities, differential instructions technique, and known-groups technique, as well as internal consistency analyses. All considered, the findings presented appropriate psychometric properties of the Argentinian culture adaptation of the MCSDS. The use of EDSCM Scale is suggested for researches related to Psychology and Medicine areas in Argentinian samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents and educators alike are concerned as a result of a significant increase in aggressive behaviors in school. Disruptive behaviors in children, which can go from making fun and bullying a classmate to real criminal behavior, make academic learning processes more difficult (Marín Sanchez, 2002). Apparently, it seems more difficult for children to control their impulses and regain calmness after an event of frustration or offense. This paper suggests an intervention model that includes both cognitive and behavioral procedures, so as to prevent aggressive behavior and foster calmness in a group of 6 to 7-year old school children. In order to assess the effectiveness of the model proposed, a pilot study was applied to the totality (N = 40) of children attending grades first and second of a elementary school included in the Federal Plan for 1,000 Schools in poverty level, in the Province of Entre Ríos (República Argentina). Personal interviews were carried out before and after the intervention so as to assess whether before a stressful event children had developed the ability of relaxing through their use of an adaptive strategy or, on the contrary, showed hasty reactions, as evidence of lack of control in their impulses and emotions. The intervention strategies were implemented within the classroom. Their teachers acted as overseers and qualified professionals acted as observers, writing down the students' difficulties and achievements, so as to make adjustments in the program according to the needs of every group. Both professionals had been previously trained in both the theoretical and practical aspects of intervention. The program included six 45-minute sessions. Both cognitive and behavioral procedures were used. Strategies of intervention included, among others, modeling, positive reinforcing, mental and physical relaxation techniques, breathing training, behavioral practice, cost-benefits analysis, search for alternatives, self-referential techniques, narrations, and planned games. Every session was closed with a generalization assignment, in order to transfer what had been learnt to other significant contexts (home, neighborhood, etc.). A content analysis was made to analyze the discourse findings collected at the time of the interviews and quantitative tests were applied in order to find out whether changes in behavior had been produced after the intervention. Results show a significant reduction in disruptive behaviors after applying the relaxation model and a progressive acquisition of more adapted answers in interpersonal stress events (V = .37; p = .002). The first assessment showed near 20 percent of clearly violent reactions as a means of solving problems or relieving tensions ("I punch him", "I hit the wall", "I kick him back", etc.); in the second assessment, however, it went down to 11 percent. On the other hand, in the first assessment not a single child mentioned specific attempts of relaxing or calming down before answering to an insult or an aggression episode, but in the second one, 43 percent of answers included this category ("I breathe deeply", "I count up to three first", etc.). Moreover, it was encouraging to find that some children not only made good use of the techniques suggested by the team, but also developed the ability of thinking in new ways of relaxing, which were applied according to their own needs and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]