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Cited by 1,331Adolescent Health and BehaviorsAdolescent Sexual and Reproductive HealthSubstance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: evidence from the scientific literature

Brener, Nancy D, Billy, John O.G, Grady, William R·2003·Journal of Adolescent Health
DOI 10.1016/s1054-139x(03)00052-1
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Abstract

We reviewed the existing empirical literature to assess cognitive and situational factors that may affect the validity of adolescents' self-reports of alcohol and other drug use, tobacco use, behaviors related to unintentional injuries and violence, dietary behaviors, physical activity, and sexual behavior. Specifically, we searched for peer-reviewed journal articles published in 1980 or later that examined the factors affecting self-report of the six categories of behavior listed above. We also searched for studies describing objective measures for each behavior. Self-reports of each of six types of health-risk behaviors are affected by both cognitive and situational factors. These factors, however, do not threaten the validity of self-reports of each type of behavior equally. The importance of assessing health-risk behaviors as part of research activities involving adolescents necessitates the use of self-report measures. Researchers should familiarize themselves with the threats to validity inherent in this type of assessment and design research that minimizes these threats as much as possible.

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  • Privacy and self-administered computerized assessments ensure reliability and validity for self-report.

    “we ensured privacy and gave participants self-administered computerized assessments. The use of such techniques shows reliability and validity for self-report (Brener, Billy, & Grady, 2003).”

    From Understanding the Role of Alcohol, Anxiety, and Trait Mindfulness in the Perpetration of Physical and Sexual Dating Violence in Emerging Adults. (2018) · cites this paper as Brener, Billy, & Grady, 2003

    In “Alcohol and Other Drug Use” (page unavailable), the review reports that more private self-administered questionnaires sometimes yielded higher reported use, and computer-assisted interviews did so in households but not schools. It also reports generally high test–retest reliability for self-reported alcohol and drug use, while cautioning that this offers only partial evidence of validity. It does not establish that privacy and computerized assessments ensure reliable and valid self-reports. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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3 of the 108 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. [2]2. Hilton NZ, Harris GT, Rice ME. On the validity of selfreported rates of interpersonal violence. J Interpers Violence 1998;13:58-72.
  2. [3]3. Martin GL, Newman IM. Assessing the validity of selfreported adolescent cigarette smoking. J Drug Educ 1988;18: 275-84.
  3. [18]18. Shillington AM, Clapp JD. Self-report stability of adolescent substance use. Drug Alcohol Depend 2000;60:19-27.
  4. [42]42. Poulin C, MacNeil P, Mitic W. The validity of a provincewide student drug survey: Lessons in design. Can J Public Health 1993;84:259-64.
  5. [47]47. Aguinis H, Pierce CA, Quigley BM. Conditions under which a bogus pipeline procedure enhances the validity of selfreported cigarette smoking. J Appl Soc Psychol 1993;23:35273.
  6. [57]57. Osman A, Barrios FX, Panak WF, et al. Validation of the Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale in adolescent samples. J Clin Psychol 1994;50:847-55.
  7. [65]65. Rosen JC, Poplawski D. The validity of self-reported weight loss and weight gain efforts in adolescents. Int J Eat Disord 1987;6:515-23.
  8. [66]66. French SA, Peterson CB, Story M, et al. Agreement between survey and interview measures of weight control practices in adolescents. Int J Eat Disord 1998;23:45-56.

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Authors
Brener, N. D., Billy, J. O. G., & Grady, W. R.
Affiliations
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
  • Battelle (US)
Corresponding author
Brener, Nancy D
ORCID
Brener, Nancy D
Venue
Journal of Adolescent Health
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2003-12
Volume
33
Issue
6
Pages
436-457
ISSN
1054-139X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/s1054-139x(03)00052-1
OpenAlex
W2087261951
Cited by
1,331
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 43 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 74 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 76 · 2018: 88 · 2017: 82 · 2016: 91 · 2015: 113 · 2014: 87 · 2013: 86 · 2012: 55
FWCI
3.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Adolescent Health and Behaviors
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
Keywords
self-report validity, adolescent health risk behaviors, alcohol consumption, drug use, tobacco use, unintentional injuries, violence, dietary behavior, physical activity, sexual behavior, cognitive factors, situational factors, objective measures
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Alcoholism, Feeding Behavior, Humans, Risk-Taking, Self-Assessment, Sexual Behavior, Tobacco Use Disorder, Violence, Substance-Related Disorders

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