An empirical investigation of the influence of social desirability on the factor structure of the Chinese 16PF

This study examined whether social desirability affects the factor structure of the Chinese 16PF. Participants were 4645 Chinese first-year undergraduate and graduate students who completed the Chinese 16PF as part of a mandatory psychological assessment. Based on students’ score on the Impression Management scale (Paulhus, 1998), two groups were formed: (a) the high socially desirable responding group, consisting of students whose IM scores fell within the upper 20% of the distribution, and (b) the low socially desirable responding group, consisting of students whose IM scores fell within the bottom 25% of the distribution. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the factor pattern and factor loadings of the Chinese 16PF were invariant across these two groups. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.