Inconsistencies in reporting the occurrence and timing of first intercourse among adolescents

Journal of Sex Research, August, 2002 by Dawn M. Upchurch, Lee A. Lillard, Carol S. Aneshensel, Nicole Fang Li

The Add Health Picture Vocabulary Test (AHPVT) is a computerized and abridged version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and was used to assess vocabulary comprehension (Bearman et al., 1997). The AHPVT is a hearing vocabulary test where the interviewer reads a word and the adolescent selects an illustration that best fits the word, choosing from a multiple-choice format of items. There are 78 items on the AHPVT. We standardized the raw test score and coded it into quartiles using the middle two quartiles as the reference category. (In additional analysis not presented here, age standardized AHPVT scores were used; none of the findings differed from those presented in this paper.) Motivation and candor during the interview were assessed with information obtained from the interviewer; two measures from this battery were used. The first asked the interviewer to rate the candidness of the respondent in answering questions. This measure is a four-category variable ranging from not candid to very candid; the latter was used as the reference. The second question asked the interviewer to evaluate if the respondent appeared bored or impatient during the interview and was scored as a dichotomy.

All multivariate analyses presented in the paper were performed using STATA software (StataCorp, 1999). Robust variance estimates were computed to adjust for the complex clustered sample design using the Huber correction.

RESULTS

The first table shows the weighted distribution of the characteristics of the full sample. The average age of the respondent at Wave I was slightly older than 15 years. About two thirds of males and females were White, about 16% were African American, another 12% Hispanic, and the remainder were Asian American. Over one half of teens lived with both biological parents, approximately one quarter lived with one biological parent, and the remainder lived in stepfamilies and other situations. The mean years of schooling achieved were similar for mothers and fathers (about 13 years), and the mean household income (1994) was $42,8.64. The mean score of the raw AHPVT was 64.8. Over 80% of respondents were considered very or moderately candid during their interview, and only one in eight appeared bored during the interview (as observed by the interviewer).

Table 2 presents summary statistics for the two measures of inconsistent reports for each of the gender-by-ethnicity groups. White females had the lowest percentage of logically inconsistent responses (Column 1), at about 6%, and Asian American males had the highest percentage of inconsistent reports, at about 22%. In each of the four ethnic groups, males had higher percentages of inconsistent reporting than their female counterparts. As can be seen in the second column, teens on average revised their reported date of first sex to older ages, varying from 2.5 months (White girls) to almost 7 months (African American and Asian American boys). (4) Also, variability (SD) of these means differed across groups and was generally larger for males than for females. Thus, the descriptive findings demonstrated substantial variability in the extent of inconsistent reports across categories of gender-by-ethnicity. We now turn to the multivariate results.