Bailey S L, Flewelling R L, Rachal J V
Research Triangle Institute, Center for Social Research and Policy Analysis, North Carolina 27709-2194.
J Stud Alcohol. 1992 Nov;53(6):636-47. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1992.53.636.
The reliability of self-reported measures remains an important issue for research on adolescent alcohol and drug use. Many studies have concluded that adolescents' self-reports are valid and reliable, but few studies have excluded consistent nonusers from their reliability estimates, and no study has examined in detail the reliability of reported age at first use of substances. This study explores the consistency of self-reports of frequency of use and age of first use of alcohol and marijuana in a sample of 5,770 secondary school students in a southeastern U.S. county. Two waves of data were collected between 1985 and 1988 using state-of-the-art data collection procedures and self-administered instruments. Consistency of reports was examined by comparing reports at T1 and T2, approximately 1 year apart. Results showed that when consistent nonusers were dropped from the analysis, consistency rates of lifetime frequency of use dropped from 82.7% to 74.7% for alcohol and from 95.6% to 83.2% for marijuana. Reports were more consistent for lifetime marijuana use than for alcohol use, but these results must be interpreted with caution given differences in the measures for the two substances. Reliability of reported age of first use was very low for both substances. When consistent nonusers were dropped from the analysis, only 27.8% of respondents made consistent estimates of their age at first alcohol use and 34.4% for their age at first marijuana use. Implications and recommendations for this area of research are discussed.
自我报告测量方法的可靠性仍然是青少年酒精和药物使用研究中的一个重要问题。许多研究得出结论，青少年的自我报告是有效且可靠的，但很少有研究在可靠性评估中排除始终不使用者，而且没有研究详细考察首次使用物质的报告年龄的可靠性。本研究在美国东南部一个县的5770名中学生样本中，探讨了酒精和大麻使用频率及首次使用年龄自我报告的一致性。1985年至1988年间，采用先进的数据收集程序和自我管理工具收集了两波数据。通过比较间隔约1年的T1和T2时的报告来检验报告的一致性。结果显示，当在分析中剔除始终不使用者时，酒精终生使用频率的一致性率从82.7%降至74.7%，大麻从95.6%降至83.2%。终生大麻使用的报告比酒精使用的报告更一致，但鉴于两种物质测量方法的差异，这些结果必须谨慎解读。两种物质首次使用报告年龄的可靠性都非常低。当在分析中剔除始终不使用者时，只有27.8%的受访者对首次饮酒年龄做出了一致估计，首次使用大麻年龄的一致估计率为34.4%。本文讨论了该研究领域的意义和建议。
