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

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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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“An additional limitation of our study pertains to the possibility that the self-report of adverse health behaviors such as smoking and drinking by adolescents may be subject to misreporting due to both cognitive factors, such as comprehension and recall, and to situational influences, namely social desirability and in…”
Background
Uncontrollable stress, coping, and subjective well-being in urban adolescents
Coyle, L. D., & Vera, E. M. (2013) · Journal of Youth Studies · doi:10.1080/13676261.2012.756975 · Cited by 45
“It is promising, however, that Brener et al. (2002) found adolescent self-report to be an overall adequately reliable way to gain information about health-risk behaviors.”
Background
Have Mischievous Responders Misidentified Sexual Minority Youth Disparities in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health?
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“There is longstanding concern about the validity of self-reports of behaviour (e.g., Bowlin et al., 1996, Brener et al., 2003, Lira et al., 2022), and reassurance that implementation intentions effects are observed for objective outcomes would be valuable.”
Barriers to health and social services for street-involved youth in a Canadian setting
Barker, B., Kerr, T. H., Nguyen, P., Wood, E., & DeBeck, K. (2015) · Journal of Public Health Policy · doi:10.1057/jphp.2015.8 · Cited by 46
“However, self-reported risk behaviour has been shown to be largely accurate among adult drug-using populations,(40) and among various youth populations.(41) Our measure of what constitutes a barrier is limited to proximal or immediate barriers, not more distal ones that may prevent access to health services and thus w…”
Appetitive and regulatory processes in young adolescent drinkers
van Hemel-Ruiter, M. E., de Jong, P. J., & Wiers, R. W. H. J. (2010) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.08.002 · Cited by 48
The design and implementation of a randomized controlled trial of a risk reduction and human immunodeficiency virus prevention videogame intervention in minority adolescents: PlayForward: Elm City Stories
Fiellin, L. E., Kyriakides, T. C., Hieftje, K. D., Pendergrass, T. M., Duncan, L. R., Dziura, J. D., Sawyer, B. G., & Fiellin, D. A. (2016) · Clinical Trials · doi:10.1177/1740774516637871 · Cited by 45
“For example, there are concerns about the validity of self-reported data.(5) Videogame software produces data on activities within the game that may be a proxy for real-world actions,(6) mitigating some of these issues.”
Background
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Disposable E-Cigarette Use Prevalence, Correlates, and Associations With Previous Tobacco Product Use in Young Adults
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Edwards, K. C., Sharma, E., Halenar, M. J., Taylor, K. A., Kasza, K., Day, H. R., Hammad, H. T., Anic, G. M., Bansal-Travers, M., Limpert, J., et al. (2020) · Tobacco Control · doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055624 · Cited by 39
Health Disparities Across Education: The Role of Differential Reporting Error
Cawley, J., & Choi, A. (2015) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w21317 · Cited by 45
The Legacy of Fear: Is Fear Impacting Fatal and Non-Fatal Drowning of African American Children?
Irwin, C. C., Irwin, R. L., Ryan, T. D., & Drayer, J. (2011) · Journal of Black Studies · doi:10.1177/0021934710385549 · Cited by 44
The Cross-Sectional Association between Diet Quality and Depressive Symptomology amongst Fijian Adolescents
Sinclair, R., Millar, L., Allender, S. E., Snowdon, W., Waqa, G., Jacka, F. N., Moodie, M., Petersen, S., & Swinburn, B. A. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161709 · Cited by 46
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This Digital Life
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“While this seems illogical, that an individual would report known and not knowing who was bullying them, this is consistent with cyberbullying reporting because victims are usually bullied by more than one person and find themselves knowing the identities of one or more of the bullies, but not all responsible [3].”
Background
The Mythology of Swimming: Are Myths Impacting Minority Youth Participation?
Irwin, C. C., Irwin, R. L., Ryan, T. D., & Drayer, J. (2009) · International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education · doi:10.25035/ijare.03.01.03 · Cited by 41
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“The validity of self-reports current smoking and AU have been demonstrated [32,33].”
Background
Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption, Perceptions, and Disparities in Children and Adolescents
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Antecedent Predictors of Children's Initiation of Sipping/Tasting Alcohol
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“However, age of initiation was based on consistent reports across multiple waves of data, and both child and adolescent self-reports have been shown to be valid (Brener et al., 2003; Dielman et al., 1995; Donovan et al., 2004; Smith et al., 1995; Winters et al., 1990–91).”
Dietary behaviour and parental socioeconomic position among adolescents: the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents 2003–2006 (KiGGS)
Finger, J. D., Varnaccia, G., Tylleskär, T., Lampert, T., & Mensink, G. (2015) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1830-2 · Cited by 42
“Food frequency assessment based on self-reporting has several limitations [52]: Healthy food intake may be over reported and unhealthy food intake may be under reported due to social desirability bias.”
Background
Determinants of Cigarette Smoking Initiation in Jordanian Schoolchildren: Longitudinal Analysis
McKelvey, K., Attonito, J. M., Madhivanan, P., Yi, Q., Mzayek, F., & Maziak, W. (2014) · Nicotine & Tobacco Research · doi:10.1093/ntr/ntu165 · Cited by 42
Peer substance use overestimation among French university students: a cross-sectional survey
França, L. R., Dautzenberg, B., Falissard, B., & Reynaud, M. (2010) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-169 · Cited by 44
“Self-reported substance use questionnaires have, however, been shown to be reliable for the substances studied [54].”
Background
Is self-reported time spent sedentary and in physical activity differentially biased by age, gender, body mass index, and low-back pain?
Gupta, N., Heiden, M., Mathiassen, S. E., & Holtermann, A. (2017) · Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health · doi:10.5271/sjweh.3693 · Cited by 45
“Individual factors, like body mass index (BMI) (10), musculoskeletal pain (11), education (12), leisure-time physical activity (13), and occupation (12, 14) have been shown to influence the extent of under- or over-reporting of sedentary behavior and physical activity.”
Background
Alcohol and parenthood: An integrative analysis of the effects of transition to parenthood in three Australasian cohorts
Borschmann, R., Becker, D., Spry, E., Youssef, G. J., Olsson, C. A., Hutchinson, D. M., Silins, E., Boden, J. M., Moreno‐Betancur, M., Najman, J. M., et al. (2019) · Drug and Alcohol Dependence · doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.02.004 · Cited by 43
“First, data were obtained by selfreport and may have been subject to a social desirability bias, the extent of which can vary with age (Brener et al., 2003).”
Method
Prevalence of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviors in US High School Students by Metropolitan Status and Geographic Region
Springer, A. E., Hoelscher, D. M., & Kelder, S. H. (2006) · Journal of Physical Activity and Health · doi:10.1123/jpah.3.4.365 · Cited by 43
Prevalence of physical activity and sedentary behaviors by metropolitan status in 4th-, 8th-, and 11th-grade students in Texas, 2004-2005.
Springer, A. E., Hoelscher, D. M., Castrucci, B. C., Pérez, A., & Kelder, S. H. (2009) · PubMed Central · Cited by 42
Prevalence of Past Year Assault Among Inner-City Emergency Department Patients
Cunningham, R. M., Murray, R. M., Walton, M. A., Chermack, S. T., Wojnar, M., Woźniak, P., Booth, B. M., & Blow, F. C. (2009) · Annals of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2009.01.016 · Cited by 41
Components of Brief Alcohol Interventions for Youth in the Emergency Department
Walton, M. A., Chermack, S. T., Blow, F. C., Ehrlich, P. F., Barry, K. L., Booth, B. M., & Cunningham, R. M. (2014) · Substance Abuse · doi:10.1080/08897077.2014.958607 · Cited by 41
“Data from this study are limited to selfreport; however, several methods were used to increase validity, including use of computerized assessments, assurances of confidentiality, and validated measures.(63) Findings are limited in that not all the same data were captured in the therapist and computer BIs, reflecting c…”
Method

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 › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Adolescent Health and Behaviors
Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › 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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Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: evidence from the scientific literature

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