Skogen Jens Christoffer, Andersen Amanda Iselin Olesen, Hjetland Gunnhild Johnsen, Aarø Leif Edvard, Colman Ian, Sivertsen Børge, Finserås Turi Reiten
Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 7;15(1):28990. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-14276-6.
Straightlining (uniform responses across items), poses a risk in surveys. Among adolescents, previous studies have investigated the prevalence and impact of straightlining in shorter questionnaires within larger surveys. A typical finding is that straightlining is more common among younger respondents, and particularly among boys. A better understanding of straightlining is important for improving data quality. The present study aims to estimate the prevalence of straightlining among adolescents filling out a survey covering different aspects of social media use across 64 items. Additionally, it seeks to assess the impact of straightlining on internal consistency and the associations between six domains of social media use and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Data from the «LifeOnSoMe»-study (N = 3,285), collected from adolescents (aged 16+) in Bergen, Norway. Descriptive and inferential statistics. In total, 5.4% of participants were straightliners, (8.6% of the boys vs. 2.9% of the girls (p < 0.001)). There were no differences in age between straightliners and the remainder of the sample. Overall, the prevalence and impact of straightlining was limited in the present sample. However, there were large discrepancies in terms of both internal consistency, correlations between domains of social media use, and associations with symptoms of anxiety and depression between straightliners and the remainder of the sample. Straightlining behavior had minimal effects on this sample's analytical epidemiological conclusions. While boys were more prone to straightlining than girls, overall prevalence was low. However, significant discrepancies between straightliners and other respondents suggest potential risks in samples with higher straightlining prevalence.
直线作答（对所有题目给出一致回答）在调查中存在风险。在青少年群体中，以往研究已在较大规模调查中的较短问卷里探究了直线作答的发生率及其影响。一个典型的发现是，直线作答在年轻受访者中更为常见，尤其是在男孩当中。更好地理解直线作答对于提高数据质量很重要。本研究旨在估计在填写一份涵盖64个项目的社交媒体使用不同方面的调查问卷的青少年中直线作答的发生率。此外，它还试图评估直线作答对内部一致性的影响，以及社交媒体使用的六个领域与焦虑和抑郁症状之间的关联。数据来自“LifeOnSoMe”研究（N = 3285），该研究收集了挪威卑尔根16岁及以上青少年的数据。采用描述性和推断性统计方法。总体而言，5.4%的参与者为直线作答者（男孩中有8.6%，女孩中有2.9%（p < 0.001））。直线作答者与样本中的其他参与者在年龄上没有差异。总体而言，在本样本中直线作答的发生率和影响是有限的。然而，在内部一致性、社交媒体使用领域之间的相关性以及与焦虑和抑郁症状的关联方面，直线作答者与样本中的其他参与者存在很大差异。直线作答行为对该样本的分析性流行病学结论影响极小。虽然男孩比女孩更容易出现直线作答，但总体发生率较低。然而，直线作答者与其他受访者之间的显著差异表明，在直线作答发生率较高的样本中存在潜在风险。
