SELF-REPORTED HONESTY AMONG MIDDLE AND HIGH-SCHOOL-STUDENTS RESPONDING TO A SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Purposes: To determine self-reported honesty in completing a sexual an d other risk behavior questionnaire among middle and high school stude nts, and to relate honesty scores to sexual behavior item responses as a method to detect bias in reporting. Methods: A self-administered qu estionnaire measuring overall honesty (7-point rating scale), sexual h onesty (5-category scale), and selected sex behaviors was used. Urban, predominantly minority middle and high schools (Grades 7-12) were exa mined, and participants were 3144 male and female students in middle ( mean age = 13.7 +/- 2.0) and high (17.3 +/- 1.6) school health classes . Results: The majority of students stated that they had been very or completely honest in responding to items on the questionnaire. Seventy -eight percent of middle school males (lowest rate), and 94% of high s chool females (highest rate) reported honesty. Middle school males wer e most likely to declare dishonesty regarding sexual behavior items, o verstating their actual behavior (14%), while middle school girls were most likely to understate (8%) their behavior. Self-reported sexual h onesty and reports of behavior were most consistent for understaters. That is, those subjects who answered that their questionnaire response s underreported their true sexual behavior did, in fact, report lower sexual activity on selected survey items. Conclusion: Middle and late adolescents reported high levels of honesty in responding to a sexuali ty-related questionnaire. When interpreting such questionnaire data, c orrection for the tendency to overstate among middle school males and understate among middle school females should be considered; conclusio ns about self-reports of sexual behavior among young adolescents need to take into account degree of honesty. However, the presence of some overreported and some underreported behavior does not invalidate inter pretation of the overall survey findings. (C) Society for Adolescent M edicine, 1998.