Consistency of Ever Reported Risky and Sensitive Behaviors Among Early Adolescents in a Nationally Representative Longitudinal Study: Results From the First 2 Waves of the Longitudinal Cohort Study of the Filipino Child, 2016 to 2018

• Main Author: Haw, Nel Jason L
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2020
• Subjects: adolescent; sexual behavior; measurement error; Medicine and Health Sciences; Reproductive and Urinary Physiology; Women's Health
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/hs-faculty-pubs/2; https://archium.ateneo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=hs-faculty-pubs
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Background: An ongoing cohort study on adolescents in the Philippines presents a unique opportunity to update current literature by measuring the level of reporting consistency on these behaviors and determine predictors of reporting inconsistency. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of the first 2 waves of the Longitudinal Cohort Study on the Filipino Child (LCSFC), a nationally representative cohort of Filipino adolescents throughout the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation period, that is, age 10 in 2015 until age 24 in 2030, to measure the impact of SDG-oriented policies on the country’s future economic and health outcomes. This study focused on the index child self-administered surveys, specifically risky and sensitive behaviors spanning the child’s lifetime, that is, ever reported behaviors, asked on both waves and calculated retraction and apparent initiation rates, and assessed possible factors for retraction. Results: On most of the 17 risky and sensitive behaviors, majority of index children were inconsistent with reporting life-time behaviors. On most of the 17 risky and sensitive behaviors, majority of index children were inconsistent with reporting life-time behaviors. On many behaviors, sex of the index child was a significant predictor of retraction. Conclusion: This study seems to provide evidence against the use of self-administered questionnaires on risky and sensitive behaviors for early adolescents. Future rounds of this survey should consider alternative methods in collecting these types of information from young respondents.