FACTORS INFLUENCING AGREEMENT BETWEEN SELF-REPORTS AND BIOLOGICAL MEASURES OF SMOKING AMONG ADOLESCENTS

In this article, we review factors influencing agreement between self- reported smoking and biological assessments of smoking among adolescen ts, a population in which pressure to misreport smoking is likely to b e strong. Twenty-eight studies in which self-report is compared with a biological indicator are included. We identify 4 factors that may Lim it agreement between self-report and biological indicators: biases in self-report due to limitations of biological measures, limitations of self-report measures, social desirability, and analytic and statistica l issues. Discordance between self-report and biological measures is g enerally assumed to reflect biases in self-report due to social desira bility, but it should be evaluated to determine whether it is due to t hese other factors. We conclude that under optimal measurement conditi ons, the validity of adolescents' self-reported smoking is good. We ma ke recommendations for obtaining accurate self-reports and point out i ssues in need of additional research.