A cross sectional study examining social desirability bias in caregiver reporting of children's oral health behaviors.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Our previous research (Pediatrics 2010:126) found a strong association between caregiver oral health literacy (OHL) and children's oral health status; however, we found a weak association with oral health behaviors (OHBs). We hypothesize that this may be due to social desirability bias (SDB). Our objectives were to compare caregivers' responses to traditional OHB items and newer SDB-modulating items, and to examine the association of caregiver literacy with OHBs.

Methods

We performed a cross-sectional study of 102 caregiver-child dyads, collecting data for OHBs using both traditional and new SDB-modulating items. We measured OHL using REALD-30, a validated word recognition test. We relied upon percent agreement and Cohen's kappa (k) to quantify the concordance in

SUBMITTER: Sanzone LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3680187 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature