The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use: Improving the Accuracy of Survey Estimates
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The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use: Improving the Accuracy of Survey Estimates Editors: Lana Harrison, Ph.D. Arthur Hughes, M.S. NIDA Research Monograph 167 1997 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857 ACKNOWLEDGMENT This monograph is based on the papers from a technical review on "The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use: Improving the Accuracy of Survey Estimates" held on September 8-9, 1994. The review meeting was sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. COPYRIGHT STATUS The National Institute on Drug Abuse has obtained permission from the copyright holders to reproduce certain previously published material as noted in the text. Further reproduction of this copyrighted material is permitted only as part of a reprinting of the entire publication or chapter. For any other use, the copyright holder's permission is required. All other material in this volume except quoted passages from copyrighted sources is in the public domain and may be used or reproduced without permission from the Institute or the authors. Citation of the source is appreciated. Opinions expressed in this volume are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policy of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or any other part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The U.S. Government does not endorse or favor any specific commercial product or company. Trade, proprietary, or company names appearing in this publication are used only because they are considered essential in the context of the studies reported herein. National Institute on Drug Abuse NIH Publication No. 97-4147 Printed April 1997 NIDA Research Monographs are indexed in the Index Medicus. They are selectively included in the coverage of American Statistics Index, BioSciences Information Service, Chemical Abstracts, Current Contents, Psychological Abstracts, and Psychopharmacology Abstracts. ii Table of Contents Introduction—The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use: Improving the Accuracy of Survey Estimates............................1 Lana Harrison and Arthur Hughes The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use in Survey Research: An Overview and Critique of Research Methods..............17 Lana Harrison The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use Data: The Accuracy of Responses on Confidential Self-Administered Answer Sheets.......37 Adele V. Harrell The Recanting of Earlier Reported Drug Use by Young Adults.........59 Lloyd D. Johnston and Patrick M. O’Malley The Reliability and Consistency of Drug Reporting in Ethnographic Samples.....................................................................81 Michael Fendrich, Mary Ellen Mackesy-Amiti, Joseph S. Wislar, and Paul Goldstein New Developments in Biological Measures of Drug Prevalence.....................................................................................108 Edward J. Cone Comparison of Self-Reported Drug Use With Quantitative and Qualitative Urinalysis for Assessment of Drug Use in Treatment Studies...........................................................................................130 Kenzie L. Preston, Kenneth Silverman, Charles R. Schuster, and Edward J. Cone The Forensic Application of Testing Hair for Drugs of Abuse........146 Mark L. Miller, Brian Donnelly, and Roger M. Martz Patterns of Concordance Between Hair Assays and Urinalysis for Cocaine: Longitudinal Analysis of Probationers in Pinellas County, Florida...........................................................................................161 Tom Mieczkowski and Richard Newel iii The Validity of Self-Reports of Drug Use at Treatment Admission and at Followup: Comparisons With Urinalysis and Hair Assays.............................................................................200 Eric D. Wish, Jeffrey A. Hoffman, and Susanna Nemes The Validity of Self-Reported Cocaine Use in Two High-Risk Populations...................................................................................227 Stephen Magura and Sung-Yeon Kang Assessing Drug Use in the Workplace: A Comparison of Self-Report, Urinalysis, and Hair Analysis......................................247 Royer F. Cook, Alan D. Bernstein, and Christine M. Andrews Studies of Nonresponse and Measurement Error in the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse...................................................273 Joseph Gfroerer, Judith Lessler, and Teresa Parsley Adaptive Sampling in Behavioral Surveys......................................296 Stephen K. Thompson Self-Reported Drug Use: Results of Selected Empirical Investigations of Validity...............................................................320 Yih-Ing Hser Design and Results of the Women’s Health Study..........................344 Roger Tourangeau, Jared B. Jobe, William F. Pratt, and Kenneth Rasinski Mode of Interview and Reporting of Sensitive Issues: Design and Implementation of Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing...........................................................................366 Judith T. Lessler and James M. O’Reilly Privacy Effects on Self-Reported Drug Use: Interactions With Survey Mode and Respondent Characteristics.................................383 William S. Aquilino The Use of the Psychological Laboratory To Study Sensitive Survey Topics................................................................................416 Gordon B. Willis iv Repeated Measures Estimation of Measurement Bias for Self-Reported Drug Use With Applications to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.....................................439 Paul P. Biemer and Michael Witt The Use of External Data Sources and Ratio Estimation To Improve Estimates of Hardcore Drug Use from the NHSDA..........477 Douglas Wright, Joseph Gfroerer, and Joan Epstein v Introduction—The Validity of Self- Reported Drug Use: Improving the Accuracy of Survey Estimates Lana Harrison and Arthur Hughes ABSTRACT Measuring levels and patterns of illicit drug use, their correlates, and related behaviors requires the use of self-report methods. However, the validity of self-reported data on sensitive and highly stigmatized behaviors such as drug use has been questioned. The goal of this monograph is to review current and cutting-edge research on the validity of self-reported drug use and to describe methodological advances designed to reduce total error in estimates of drug use and quantify sources of nonsampling error. This monograph reviews a number of studies that use some presumably more accurate measure of drug use to validate self- reported use. In addition, evolving methods to improve a wide variety of procedures used in survey designs are explored, including computer-assisted interviewing, predictors of response propensity, measurement error models, and improved prevalence estimation techniques. Experimental manipulations of various survey conditions and situational factors also show promise in improving the validity of drug prevalence estimates in self-report surveys. FOREWORD The monograph arises from a technical review that was conducted on September 8 and 9, 1994 in Gaithersburg, MD, where papers were presented by 25 leading U.S. researchers on various aspects pertaining to the validity of self-reported drug use. The focus of the technical review was to examine recent research on validity using internal or external criteria, especially bioassays, as well as to examine methodological advances that can contribute to improved estimates of drug use in a survey environment. This monograph includes 20 of the 25 papers presented. The loss of several papers addressing the validity of the biological assays to assess drug use, particularly using 1 hair as the medium, are of particular concern. (Please refer to the Technical Note at the end of this Introduction.) The Technical Review was broad based with two fairly distinct focuses. Hence, the first area of this monograph is an overview of what is known about the validity of self-report based on studies using internal and external validity criteria. Other chapters consider the importance of recanting earlier reports of drug use on longitudinal surveys and how ethnographic research methods may improve validity. The monograph includes overview chapters on several studies that attempt to determine the accuracy of self-reported drug use among criminal justice, treatment, and workplace populations by using urinalysis and/or hair analysis to validate recent drug use. Also included is a review article on the validity of biological assays to determine how accurately drug use is reported. The second focus is on methodological advances that have been used or proposed as a means for understanding the extent of nonsampling error in surveys, and realizing further reductions in total error in estimates of drug use and associated behaviors. One promising method is the use of audio computer-assisted self-interviewing, which can allow complicated branching of questions to occur while permitting respondents with reading difficulties to complete the interview with minimum interviewer intervention. Other chapters deal with correlates of response propensity, cognitive laboratory procedures, privacy effects, sampling methods, measurement error models, and improved estimators of hardcore drug use. Overall, each chapter in this part of the monograph demonstrates where improvements can be achieved in the design of surveys collecting sensitive information,