Abstract

CAMPO ARIAS, Adalberto; DIAZ MARTINEZ, Luis Alfonso  and  CEBALLOS OSPINO, Guillermo Augusto. Variables Related to Inconsistent Answers in a Survey About Sexual Intercourses Among Students in Santa Marta, Colombia. Rev. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2009, vol.7, n.1, pp.28-36. ISSN 1692-7273.

Background: Self-reported questionnaires are the more common and reliable method to investigate health-related behaviors among adolescents. Often, a significant number of participants report inconsistencies in several related items, especially sensitive topics, and they must be omitted. Up to date, it has not extensively compared the demographic characteristics of students that answer consistent and not consistently a paper-pencil survey. Objective: To compare some characteristics related to inconsistent answers about sexual behavior among students of secondary school at Santa Marta, Colombia. Method: A probabilistic cluster simple of students completed an anonymous survey about sexual relationship. Logistic regression was used for adjusting associated variables to answer inconsistently questions about sexual behavior. Results: A total of 3813 students completed the survey. A group of 3575 participants (93.8%) reported consistent information about sexual behavior; and 238 (6.2%) did not. Students that completed inconsistently the survey about sexual behavior were more frequently attending to private school (OR=3.5; 95%CI 2.6-4.8) and boys (OR=2.1; 95%CI 1.6-2.8), after adjusting for socioeconomic level. Conclusions: Approximately one out of twenty students completed inconsistently inquires about sexual behavior. Inconsistent answers about sexual behavior were higher in private school and male students. More investigation is needed.

Keywords : Sexual behavior; questionnaires; students; adolescents; cross-sectional study.

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