Are Self-Reported Symptoms in Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome Contaminated by Socially Desirable Responding?

Aim: To assess the proposed relationship between chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) and socially desirable responding measures in men. Background: One of the most widely used measures of CP/CPPS is the National Institutes of Health chronic prostatitis symptom index (NIH-CPSI), which uses patients' self-reports. There has been no investigation that explored the accuracy of self-reported NIH-CPSI symptoms. Methods: Two groups of men were compared: a study group with CP/CPPS (n = 54) and randomly selected controls (n = 58). The study group participants filled out their questionnaires during face-to-face interviews with their physicians, and the controls sent their responses to an anonymous clinical researcher. Both groups filled out the NIH-CPSI and the measurement of social desirability with three subscales: deliberate manipulation of symptoms (impression management) and two unconscious self-deception scales. The relationships between these measures were analyzed. Results: Multiple regression analyses found that high impression management and low self-deceptive denial were important predictors of pain scores but only low self-deceptive enhancement was a predictor of urinary symptoms within the study group. In total, the extent to which the three social desirability scales predict NIH-CPSI subscale scores was up to 21%. Conclusion: The underreporting of urinary symptoms may appear because of the perceived masculine roles in men. Contrary to expected, increased pain scores may indicate that men want the clinician to take their complaints seriously and that they do not perceive a threat to their masculinity in this context. In general, the results of the primary dimensions of the NIH-CPSI should be used and interpreted with caution.