Eliason Michele J, Radix Asa, McElroy Jane A, Garbers Samantha, Haynes Suzanne G
Department of Health Education, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California.
Research and Education, Callen Lorde Community Health Center, New York, New York.
Womens Health Issues. 2016 Jul 7;26 Suppl 1:S71-80. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2016.03.012.
Terminology related to sexuality and gender is constantly evolving, and multiple factors are at play when individuals answer questions on surveys.
We examined patterns of responding to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) sexual identity questions in a multisite health intervention study for lesbian and bisexual women aged 40 to 84 years.
Of 376 participants, 80% (n = 301) chose "lesbian or gay," 13% (n = 49) selected "bisexual," 7% (n = 25) indicated "something else," and 1 participant chose "don't know the answer." In response to the follow-up question for women who said "something else" or "don't know," most (n = 17) indicated that they were "not straight, but identify with another label." One participant chose "transgender, transsexual, or gender variant," five chose "You do not use labels to identify yourself," and three chose "you mean something else." Lesbian, bisexual, and "something else" groups were compared across demographic and health-related measures. Women who reported their sexual identity as "something else" were younger, more likely to have a disability, more likely to be in a relationship with a male partner, and had lower mental health quality of life than women who reported their sexual identity as lesbian or bisexual.
Respondents who answer "something else" pose challenges to analysis and interpretation of data, but should not be discarded from samples. Instead, they may represent a subset of the community that views sexuality and gender as fluid and dynamic concepts, not to be defined by a single label. Further study of the various subsets of "something else" is warranted, along with reconsideration of the NHIS question options.
与性取向和性别相关的术语在不断演变，个体在回答调查问卷中的问题时受到多种因素影响。
在一项针对40至84岁女同性恋和双性恋女性的多地点健康干预研究中，我们研究了对美国国家健康访谈调查（NHIS）性取向问题的回答模式。
在376名参与者中，80%（n = 301）选择“女同性恋或男同性恋”，13%（n = 49）选择“双性恋”，7%（n = 25）表示“其他”，1名参与者选择“不知道答案”。对于回答“其他”或“不知道”的女性的后续问题，大多数（n = 17）表示她们“不是异性恋，但认同另一个标签”。一名参与者选择“跨性别者、变性者或性别变异者”，五名选择“你不用标签来定义自己”，三名选择“你指的是其他意思”。对女同性恋、双性恋和“其他”群体在人口统计学和健康相关指标方面进行了比较。报告性取向为“其他”的女性比报告性取向为女同性恋或双性恋的女性更年轻，更有可能有残疾，更有可能与男性伴侣建立关系，心理健康生活质量更低。
回答“其他”的受访者给数据的分析和解释带来了挑战，但不应从样本中剔除。相反，她们可能代表了社区中的一个子集，该子集将性取向和性别视为流动和动态的概念，而非由单一标签定义。有必要对“其他”的各个子集进行进一步研究，同时重新考虑NHIS的问题选项。
