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C. F. Turner,* L. Ku, S. M. Rogers, L. D. Lindberg, J. H. Pleck, F. L. Sonenstein
Surveys of risk behaviors have been hobbled by their reliance on respondents to report accurately about engaging in behaviors that are highly sensitive and may be illegal. An audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI) technology for measuring those behaviors was tested with 1690 respondents in the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males. The respondents were randomly assigned to answer questions using either audio-CASI or a more traditional self-administered questionnaire. Estimates of the prevalence of male-male sex, injection drug use, and sexual contact with intravenous drug users were higher by factors of 3 or more when audio-CASI was used. Increased reporting was also found for several other risk behaviors.
A small number of national surveys using large, representative samples of the United States and other populations have attempted to assess the sexual and drug-using behaviors that risk transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) ( 1). Because sexual activity is typically initiated in adolescence or early adulthood and because that period for many young people is characterized by greater amounts of experimentation, partner change, and risk taking than in later years, research programs with a focus on the behaviors of adolescents and young adults are of particular importance (2). AIDS is not, however, the only threat faced by young people. Interpersonal violence represents an even greater threat of morbidity and mortality (3); consequently, interpersonal violence has also received greater scrutiny in recent surveys of the adolescent and young adult population. Yet concerns have surfaced regarding the quality of survey measurements of such sensitive behaviors (4, 5). The concern most often cited is that respondents may be reluctant to report accurately about sensitive or stigmatized behaviors in which they have engaged. (Reservations are particularly strong in situations in which teenage respondents are asked to tell an adult interviewer whether, for example, they have had a certain sexual experience or used a certain drug.) In one study (5), it was estimated that survey measurements that relied upon women's responses to questions about their abortion history during a face-to-face interview captured only 35% of the abortions performed in the United States (a conclusion based on aggregate...