Abstract
Increasing rates of HIV among urban adolescents have raised concerns about their participation in sexual risk behaviors. The accuracy of adolescents' sexual reports is critical to the assessment of risk, which may later guide the development of public policy, interventions, and education efforts. The data presented here are part of a larger study on a range of sexual behaviors and cognitions believed to be important regarding adolescent girls' sexual choices and decision-making. Our goal here was to assess the test–retest reliability of early adolescent girls' reports of their romantic and sexual experiences. This information will contribute to our limited information base regarding sexuality research with early adolescents. Fifty urban African American and Latina girls between the ages of 12 and 14 years were recruited from community settings around New York City. A battery of sexual behavior and sexual cognition measures was administered by interviewers at two time points separated by a 3-week interval. Results indicated that the girls were highly reliable in reporting their sexual experiences, especially those experiences related to age of first romantic and sexual milestone experiences.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Belzer, M., Rogers, A. S., Camarca, M., Fuchs, D., Peralta, L., Tucker, D. (2001). Contraceptive choices in HIV infected, and HIV at-risk adolescent females. Journal of Adolescent Health, 29, 93–100.
Brewster, K. L. (1994a). Neighborhood context, and the transition to sexual activity among young Black women. Demography, 31, 603–614.
Brewster, K. L. (1994b). Racial differences in sexual activity among adolescent women: The role of neighborhood characteristics. American Sociological Review, 59, 408–424.
Carballo-Dieguez, A., Remien, R. H., Dolezal, C., & Wagner, G. (1999). Reliability of sexual behavior self-reports in male couples of discordant HIV status. Journal of Sex Research, 36, 152–158.
Catania, J. A., Binson, D., van der Straten, A., & Stone, V. (1995). Methodological research on sexual behavior in the AIDS era. Annual Review of Sex Research, 4, 77–125.
Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention. (2003, March). HIV/AIDS among US women: Minority, and young women at continuing risk. Retrieved August 18, 2003, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/facts/women.htm
Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention. (2002, May). Young people at risk: HIV/AIDS among America's youth. Retrieved November 25, 2002, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/facts/youth.htm
Crosby, R., DiClemente, R. J., Wingood, G. M., Sinoan, C., Cobb, B. K., Harrington, K. (2001). Correct condom application among African-American adolescent females: The relationship to perceived self-efficacy, and the association to confirmed STDs. Journal of Adolescent Health, 29, 194–199.
Downey, L., Ryan, R., Roffman, R., & Kulich, M. (1995). How could I forget? Inaccurate memories of sexually intimate moments. Journal of Sex Research, 32, 177–191.
Duck, S. (1991). Studying interpersonal interaction. New York: Guilford Press.
Durant, L. E., & Carey, M. P. (2000). Self-administered questionnaires versus face-to-face interviews in assessing sexual behavior in young women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 29, 309–322.
Ford, K., & Norris, A. (2000). Patterns of union formation among urban minority youth in the United States. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 29, 177–188.
Friedrich, W. N., Grambsch, P., Damon, L., Hewitt, S. K. Koverola, C., Lang, R. A., et al. (1992). Child Sexual Behavior Inventory: Normative, and clinical comparisons. Psychological Assessment, 4, 303–311.
Graber, J. A., Britto, P. R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1999). What's love got to do with it? Adolescents', and young adults' beliefs about sexual, and romantic relationships. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 364–395). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hornberger, L. L., Rosenthal, S. L., Biro, F. M., & Stanberry, L. R. (1995). Sexual histories of adolescent girls: Comparison between interview, and chart. Journal of Adolescent Health, 16, 235–239.
Huygens, P., Kajura, E., Seeley, J., & Barton, T. (1996). Rethinking methods for the study of sexual behaviour. Social Science, and Medicine, 42, 221–231.
James, N. J., Bignell, C. J., & Gillies, P. A. (1991). The reliability of self-reported sexual behavior. AIDS, 5, 333–336.
Kornreich, J. L., Hearn, K. D., Rodgriguez, G., & O'Sullivan, L. F. (2003). Sibling influence, gender roles, and the sexual socialization of urban early adolescent girls. Journal of Sex Research, 40, 101–110.
Krahe, B., Reimer, T., Scheinberger-Olwig, R., & Fritsche, I. (1999). Measuring sexual aggression: The reliability of the Sexual Experiences Survey in a German sample. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 91–100.
Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159–174.
Li, X., Stanton, B., Cottrell, L., Burns, J., Pack, R., & Kaljee, L. (2001). Patterns of initiation of sex, and drug-related activities among urban low-income African-American adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 28, 46–54.
Luker, K. (1996). Dubious conceptions: The politics of teenage pregnancy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
McKinnon, K. S., Cournos, F., Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L., Guido, J. R., Caraballo, L. R., Margoshes, E. S. (1993). Reliability of sexual risk behavior interviews with psychiatric patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 972–974.
Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L., Dugan, T. M., & Ehrhardt, A. A. (1998). Psychosexual Development Interview: Child Version for Sexual Risk Behavior, Female (PDI-RISK-C-F). Unpublished instrument. Columbia University, New York.
Miller, B. C., & Benson, B. (1999). Romantic, and sexual relationship development during adolescence. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 99–121). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Miller, K. S., Clark, L. F., Wendell, D. A., Levin, M. L., Gray-Ray, P., Velez, C. N. (1997). Adolescent heterosexual experience: A new typology. Journal of Adolescent Health, 20, 179–186.
Minnis, A. M., & Padian, N. S. (2001). Reliability of adolescents' self-reported sexual behavior: A comparison of two diary methodologies. Journal of Adolescent Health, 28, 394–403.
Moore, S. M., & Rosenthal, D. A. (1998). Contemporary youths' negotiations of romance, love, sex, and sexual disease. In V. C. de Munck (Ed.), Romantic love and sexual behavior: Perspectives from the social sciences (pp. 233–247). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Ochs, E. P., & Binik, Y. M. (1999). The use of couple data to determine the reliability of self-reported sexual behavior. Journal of Sex Research, 36, 374–384.
O'Sullivan, L. F., Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L., & Watkins, B. X. (2000). Social cognitions associated with pubertal development in a sample of urban, low-income, African-American, and Latina girls, and mothers. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27, 227–235.
O'Sullivan, L. F., Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L., & Watkins, B. X. (2001). Mother–daughter communication about sex among urban African American, and Latino families. Journal of Adolescent Research, 16, 269–291.
Paikoff, R. (1995). Early heterosexual debut: Situations of heterosexual possibility during the transition to adolescence. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 65, 389–401.
Paikoff, R. L., McCormick, A., & Sagrestano, L. M. (2000). Adolescent sexuality. In L. T. Szuchman & F. Muscarella (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on human sexuality (pp. 416–439). New York: Wiley.
Paikoff, R., Parfenoff, S. H., Williams, S. A., McCormick, A., Greenwood, G. L., & Holmbeck, G. N. (1997). Parenting, parent–child relationships, and sexual possibility situations among urban African American preadolescents: Preliminary findings and implications for HIV prevention. Journal of Family Psychology, 11, 11–22.
Perkins, D. F., Luster, T., Villarruel, F. A., & Smalls, S. (1998). An ecological risk factor examination of adolescents' sexual activity in three ethnic groups. Journal of Marriage, and the Family, 60, 660–673.
Romer, D., Hornik, R., Stanton, B., Black, M., Li, X., Ricardo, I. (1997). “Talking” computers: A reliable, and private method to conduct interviews on sensitive topics with children. Journal of Sex Research, 34, 3–9.
Rosenthal, D. A., & Smith, A. M. A. (1997). Adolescent sexual timetables. Journal of Youth, and Adolescence, 26, 619–636.
Roye, C. F., & Seals, B. (2001). A qualitative assessment of condom use decisions by female adolescents who use hormonal contraception. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 12, 78–87.
Ryan, G. (2000). Childhood sexuality: A decade of study. Child Abuse, and Neglect, 24, 49–61.
Seal, D. W. (1997). Interpartner concordance of self-reported sexual behavior among college dating couples. Journal of Sex Research, 34, 39–55.
Smith, M. U., & DiClemente, R. J. (2000). STAND: A peer educator training curriculum for sexual risk reduction in the rural South. Preventive Medicine, 30, 441–446.
Sneed, C. D., Chin, D., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Milburn, N. G., Murphy, D. A., Corby, N. (2001). Test–retest reliability for self-reports of sexual behavior among Thai, and Korean respondents. AIDS Education, and Prevention, 13, 302–310.
Sneed, C. D., Morisky, D. E., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Elbin, V., Malotte, C. K., Lyde, M. (2001). “Don't know”, and “didn't think of it”: Condom use at first intercourse by Latino adolescents. AIDS Care, 13, 303–308.
Sohler, N., Colson, P. W., Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L., & Susser, E. (2000). Reliability of self-reports about sexual risk behavior for HIV among homeless men with severe mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 51, 814–816.
Tolman, D. L. (1996). Adolescent girls' sexuality: Debunking the myth of the urban girl. In B. J. Ross Leadbeater & N. Way (Eds.), Urban girls: Resisting stereotypes, creating identities (pp. 255–271). New York: New York University Press.
Udry, J. R., & Bearman, P. S. (1998). New methods for new research on adolescent sexual behavior. In R. Jessor (Ed.), New perspectives on adolescent risk behavior (pp. 241–269). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Weinhardt, L. S., Carey, M. P., Maisto, S. A., Carey, K. B., Cohen, M. M., & Wickramasinghe, S. M. (1998). Reliability of the timeline follow-back sexual behavior interview. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 20, 25–30.
Weinhardt, L. S., Forsyth, A. D., Carey, M. P., Jaworski, B. C., & Durant, L. E. (1998). Reliability, and validity of self-report measures of HIV-related sexual behavior: Progress since 1990, and recommendations for research, and practice. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 27, 155–180.
Welsh, D. P., Rostosky, S. S., & Kawaguchi, M. C. (2000). A normative perspective of adolescent girls' developing sexuality. In C. B. Travis & J. W. White (Eds.), Sexuality, society, and feminism (pp. 111–140). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hearn, K.D., O'Sullivan, L.F. & Dudley, C.D. Assessing Reliability of Early Adolescent Girls' Reports of Romantic and Sexual Behavior. Arch Sex Behav 32, 513–521 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026033426547
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026033426547