@article{ref1,
title="Ability to measure sensitive adolescent behaviors via telephone",
journal="American journal of preventive medicine",
year="1998",
author="Boekeloo, B. O. and Schamus, L. A. and Simmens, S. J. and Cheng, T. L.",
volume="14",
number="3",
pages="209-216",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: Difficulty in measuring sensitive behaviors in 12-15-year-old adolescents is a barrier to research. This study determined whether early adolescents reported substance use and sexual activity similarly in assisted paper-and-pencil versus touch-tone telephone responses. METHODS: Adolescents 12-15 years old completed confidential, interviewer-assisted questionnaires first in a physician office by paper-and-pencil and then at home by touch-tone approximately 3 months later. Adolescents were from a high-risk urban area, 71% were minority, and all had parent consent to participate. RESULTS: The follow-up participation rate was 94% (follow-up n = 207). Test-retest stability was generally poor for low-frequency behaviors such as injection drug use, anal intercourse, and sexual behaviors in 12-13-year-olds. Test-retest stability was fair to good for common substance use items. Test-retest stability was generally good among females and 14-15-year-old adolescents, and poor to fair among males and 12-13-year-olds, for common sexual experiences in the last 3 months. Test-retest stability was generally good to excellent for all lifetime sexual experiences except among 12-13-year-olds in which it was generally poor. Internal consistency of the self-esteem scale was high using both response technologies. Both response technologies reproduced correlations between substance use and lifetime sexual experience. CONCLUSION: A high participation rate and reliable data capture were achieved when assessing sensitive behaviors of 14-15-year-olds using touch-tone telephone response. Sexual behaviors were more reliably captured using a &quot;lifetime&quot; versus &quot;last 3-month&quot; reference period. Low prevalence contributed to poor reliability in 12-13-year-olds.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0749-3797",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}