Inconsistent reports of risk behavior among Brazilian middle school students: National School Based Survey of Adolescent Health (PeNSE 2009/2012)

Abstract

This study assessed the consistency of self-reports of risk behavior (overall and within four specific domains: alcohol use, tobacco use, drug use, and sexual activity) in two editions of the Brazilian National School Based Survey of Adolescent Health (PeNSE): 2009 and 2012. The overall proportion of cases with at least one inconsistent response in the two editions was 11.7% (2.7% on the alcohol items, 2.1% for drug use, 4.3% for cigarette use, 3% for sexual activity) and 22.7% (12.8% on alcohol items, 2.5% for drug use, 4.3% for cigarette use, 4.1% for sexual activity), respectively. Such inconsistency was more prevalent among males, delayed students, those who reported having experimented with drugs, and those who did not have a cellphone. Because inconsistent responses were more prevalent among the students who claimed to have engaged in risky activities, removing inconsistent responders affected the estimated prevalence of all risk behaviors in both editions of the survey. This study supports the importance of performing consistency checks of self-report surveys, following the growing body of literature on this topic.

Reprodutibilidade dos módulos bebidas alcoólicas e drogas ilícitas da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde do Escolar 2015

“…in different ways. This same problem is indicated in another study that analyzed questions related to time periods (22) . As a way of minimizing this factor, the test-retest was applied within a maximum period of 30 days.…”

“…A study on the subject of self-reports showed that the omission or underestimation of the analyzed phenomena is common, whether because of shame or fear of possible exposure. The same study also mentions that between the 2009 and 2012 editions of PeNSE, the most inconsistent responses were those related to alcohol use and contradictory answers were found (22) .…”

Intersection of Race and Gender in Self-Reports of Violent Experiences and Polyvictimization by Young Girls in Brazil

“…Lastly, common biases in self-reported data were reported in previous editions of the PeNSE survey [ 61 ], and this could have also affected our findings. Considering that most questions used for this study touch on sensitive and traumatic events, relying on self-reported data brings some disadvantages, as subjects may not be able to assess themselves accurately, may give the more socially acceptable answer rather than being truthful, and are also susceptible to recall bias.…”

Relations between sociocultural spaces and the consumption of psychoactive substances by adolescents

“…The study limitations were related to the fact that this is a study based on self-reports on risk behaviors, which can lead to omission or underestimation of the reports by the respondents. A study on the reliability of the PeNSE instrument questions (3) demonstrated that the PAS questions were the ones that had the greatest inconsistency (19) . As a way of limiting possible omissions, the researchers explained about ensuring anonymity in the participating schools.…”