A PARADIGM FOR STUDYING THE ACCURACY OF SELF-REPORTS OF RISK BEHAVIORRELEVANT TO AIDS - EMPIRICAL-PERSPECTIVES ON STABILITY, RECALL BIAS, AND TRANSITORY INFLUENCES

Despite the importance of the issue for AIDS-related research, there i s a paucity of studies that have addressed the issue of the validity o f self-reports of patterns of risk behavior over time. This article fr ames issues of measurement in the context of cognitive psychology and presents a research paradigm that investigators can use to explore iss ues of accuracy, bias, and stability in self-reports. The paradigm als o permits the analysis of transitory influences on risk behavior, infl uences which have been minimized in current AIDS research. Preliminary data are presented that support the feasibility of the method and whi ch are suggestive of important considerations in the development of va lid measures in national surveys.