Analysis of sensitive questions across cultures: An application of multigroup item randomized response theory to sexual attitudes and behavior

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Volumn 103, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 543-564

  de Jong, Martijn G ^a   Pieters, Rik ^b   Stremersch, Stefan ^a,c  

^a ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM   (Netherlands)

^b TILBURG UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

^c IESE BUSINESS SCHOOL   (Spain)

Author keywords

Cross cultural survey; Mating theories; Randomized response; Sensitive questions; Social desirability

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; ATTITUDE; CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL; CONTROLLED STUDY; CULTURAL FACTOR; FEMALE; HIGH RISK BEHAVIOR; HUMAN; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PERSONALITY; PHYSIOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL; PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY; QUESTIONNAIRE; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL; REPRODUCIBILITY; SELF REPORT; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; STANDARD;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ATTITUDE; CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MODELS, PSYCHOLOGICAL; PERSONALITY; PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY; QUESTIONNAIRES; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; RISK-TAKING; SELF REPORT; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84874485869     PISSN: 00223514     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0029394     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Abul-Ela, A. L. A., Greenberg, B. G., & Horvitz, D. G. (1967). A multi proportions randomized response model. Journal of the American Sta-tistical Association, 62, 990-1008.
2. Anderson, J. E., & Dahlberg, L. L. (1992). High-risk sexual behavior in the general population. Results from a national survey, 1988-1990. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 19, 320-325. doi:10.1097/00007435-199211000-00004
3. Böckenholt, U., & van der Heijden, P. G. M. (2007). Item randomized-response models for measuring noncompliance: Risk-return perceptions, social influences, and self-protective responses. Psychometrika, 72, 245-262. doi:10.1007/s11336-005-1495-y
4. Boeije, H., & Lensvelt-Mulders, G. (2002). Honest by chance: A qualitative interview study to clarify participants' (non) compliance with computer-assisted randomized response. Bulletin of Sociological Meth-odology/Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, 75, 24-39. doi: 10.1177/075910630207500104
5. Box, G. E. P., & Tiao, G. C. (1973). Bayesian inference in statistical analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
6. Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204-232. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.100.2.204
7. Catania, J. A., Gibson, D. R., Chitwood, D. D., & Coates, T. J. (1990). Method-ological problems in AIDS behavioral research: Influences on measurement error and participation bias in studies of sexual behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 339-362. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.339
8. Chen, F. F. (2008). What happens if we compare chopsticks with forks? The impact of making inappropriate comparisons in cross-cultural re-search. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1005-1018. doi:10.1037/a0013193
9. Clark, R. D., & Hatfield, E. (1989). Gender differences in receptivity to sexual offers. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, 2, 39-55. doi:10.1300/J056v02n01_04
10. Clark, S. J., & Desharnais, R. H. (1998). Honest answers to embarrassing questions: Detecting cheating in the randomized response model. Psy-chological Methods, 3, 160-168. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.3.2.160
11. Cooper, M. L. (2010). Toward a person Universal-GreekwithMathPi.-1.H11003 situation model of sexual risk-taking behaviors: Illuminating the conditional effects of traits across sexual situations and relationship contexts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 319-341. doi:10.1037/a0017785
12. Costa, P. T., Terracciano, A., & McCrae, R. R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 322-331. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.81.2.322
13. Dahl, D. W., Manchanda, R. V., & Argo, J. J. (2001). Embarrassment in consumer purchase: The roles of social presence and purchase familiar-ity. Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 473-481. doi:10.1086/323734
14. David, S., & Knight, B. G. (2008). Stress and coping among gay men: Age and ethnic differences. Psychology and Aging, 23, 62-69. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.23.1.62
15. de Jong, M. G., Pieters, F. G. M., & Fox, J. P. (2010). Reducing social desirability bias through item randomized response: An application to measure underreported desires. Journal of Marketing Research, 47, 14-27. doi:10.1509/jmkr.47.1.14
16. de Jong, M. G., Steenkamp, J. B. E. M., & Fox, J. P. (2007). Relaxing measurement invariance in cross-national consumer research using a hierarchical IRT model. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 260-278. doi:10.1086/518532
17. Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfac-tion and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653-663. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.4.653
18. Eagly, A. H., Diekman, A. B., Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., & Koenig, A. M. (2004). Gender gaps in sociopolitical attitudes: A social psycho-logical analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 796-816. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.87.6.796
19. Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (1999). The origins of sex differences in human behavior. American Psychologist, 54, 408-423. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.54.6.408
20. Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (2005). Universal sex differences across patriarchal cultures Universal-GreekwithMathPi.-1.HS11005 evolved psychological dispositions. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 281-283. doi:10.1017/S0140525X05290052
21. Edgell, S. E., Himmelfarb, S., & Duncan, K. L. (1982). Validity of forced response in a randomized response model. Sociological Methods & Research, 11, 89-100. doi:10.1177/0049124182011001005
22. Ellingson, J. E., Smith, D. B., & Sackett, P. R. (2001). Investigating the influence of social desirability on personality factor structure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 122-133. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.1.122
23. Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975). Eysenck Personality Questionnaire manual. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Services.
24. Fenton, K. A., Johnson, A. M., McManus, S., & Erens, B. (2001). Mea-suring sexual behaviour: Methodological challenges in survey research. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 77, 84-92. doi:10.1136/sti.77.2.84
25. Fox, J. A., & Tracy, P. E. (1986). Randomized response: A method for sensitive surveys. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
26. Fox, J. P. (2005). Randomized item response theory models. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 30, 189-212. doi:10.3102/10769986030002189
27. Fox, J. P., & Meijer, R. R. (2008). Using item response theory to obtain individual information from randomized response data: An application using cheating data. Applied Psychological Measurement, 32, 595-610. doi:10.1177/0146621607312277
28. Fox, J. P., & Wyrick, C. (2008). A mixed effects randomized item response model. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 33, 389-415. doi:10.3102/1076998607306451
29. Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment scales. Jour-nal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350-365. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.2.350
30. Gangestad, S. W., & Simpson, J. A. (2000). The evolution of human mating: Trade-offs and strategic pluralism. Behavioral and Brain Sci-ences, 23, 573-587. doi:10.1017/S0140525X0000337X
31. Gelman, A., Carlin, J. B., Stern, H. S., & Rubin, D. B. (2004). Bayesian data analysis. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall.
32. Guttentag, M., & Secord, P. F. (1983). Too many women? The sex-ratio question. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
33. Heaven, P. C. L., Fitzpatrick, J., Craig, F. L., Kelly, P., & Sebar, G. (2000). Five personality factors and sex: Preliminary findings. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 1133-1141. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00163-4
34. Hendrick, C., Hendrick, S. S., & Reich, D. A. (2006). The Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale. Journal of Sex Research, 43, 76-86. doi:10.1080/00224490609552301
35. Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61-83. doi:10.1017/S0140525X0999152X
36. Hogan, J., & Ones, D. S. (1997). Conscientiousness and integrity at work. In R. Hogan, J. Johnson, & S. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 849-870). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
37. Horn, J. L., & McArdle, J. J. (1992). A practical and theoretical guide to measurement invariance in aging research. Experimental Aging Re-search, 18, 117-144. doi:10.1080/03610739208253916
38. Hoyle, R. H., Fejfar, M. C., & Miller, J. D. (2000). Personality and sexual risk taking: A quantitative review. Journal of Personality, 68, 1203-1231. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00132
39. Kennedy, G. J., Martinez, M. M., & Garo, N. (2010). Sex and mental health in old age. Primary Psychiatry, 17, 22-30.
40. Kenrick, D. T., Keefe, R. C., Bryan, A., Barr, A., & Brown, S. (1995). Age preferences and mate choice among homosexuals and heterosexuals: A case for modular psychological mechanisms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 1166-1172. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.6.1166
41. Lalwani, A. K., Shavitt, S., & Johnson, T. (2006). What is the relation between cultural orientation and socially desirable responding? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 165-178. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.90.1.165
42. Lalwani, A. K., Shrum, L. J., & Chiu, C. (2009). Motivated response styles: The role of cultural values, regulatory focus, and self-consciousness in socially desirable responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psy-chology, 96, 870-882. doi:10.1037/a0014622
43. Lameiras Fernández, M., & Rodríguez Castro, Y. (2003). The Big Five and sexual attitudes in Spanish students. Social Behavior and Personality, 31, 357-362. doi:10.2224/sbp.2003.31.4.357
44. Laumann, E. O., Paik, A., & Rosen, R. C. (1999). Sexual dysfunction in the United States: Prevalence and predictors. JAMA: Journal of American Medical Association, 281, 537-544. doi:10.1001/jama.281.6.537
45. Lensvelt-Mulders, G. J. L. M., Hox, J. J., van der Heijden, P. G. M., & Maas, C. J. M. (2005). Meta-analysis of randomized response research: Thirty-five years of validation. Sociological Methods & Research, 33, 319-348. doi:10.1177/0049124104268664
46. Li, N. P., & Kenrick, D. T. (2006). Sex similarities and differences in preferences for short-term mates: What, whether, and why. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 468-489. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.90.3.468
47. Lunn, D. J., Thomas, A., Best, N., & Spiegelhalter, D. (2000). Win-BUGS-a Bayesian modelling framework: Concepts, structure, and extensibility. Statistics and Computing, 10, 325-337. doi:10.1023/A: 1008929526011
48. McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1997). Conceptions and correlates of openness to experience. In R. Hogan, J. Johnson, & S. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 825-847). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
49. McCrae, R. R., & Terracciano, A. (2005). Personality profiles of cultures: Aggregate personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychol-ogy, 89, 407-425. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.407
50. Moshagen, M., Musch, J., Ostapczuk, M., & Zhao, Z. (2010). Reducing socially desirable responding in epidemiological surveys by a cheating detection extension of the randomized response technique. Epidemiol-ogy, 21, 379-382. doi:10.1097/EDE.0b013e3181d61dbc
51. Ones, D. S., Viswesvaran, C., & Reiss, A. D. (1996). Role of social desirability in personality testing for personnel selection: The red her-ring. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 660-679. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.81.6.660
52. Paulhus, D. L. (2002). Socially desirable responding: The evolution of a construct. In H. I. Braun, D. N. Jackson, & D. E. Wiley (Eds.), The role of constructs in psychological and educational measurement (pp. 49-69). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
53. Pedersen, F. A. (1991). Secular trends in human sex ratios: Their influence on individual and family behavior. Human Nature, 2, 271-291. doi: 10.1007/BF02692189
54. Piedmont, R. L., McCrae, R. R., Riemann, R., & Angleitner, A. (2000). On the invalidity of validity scales: Evidence from self-reports and observer ratings in volunteer samples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychol-ogy, 78, 582-593. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.3.582
55. Rammstedt, B., & John, O. J. (2007). Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the Big Five Inventory in English and German. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 203-212. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.02.001
56. Reise, S. P., Widaman, K. F., & Pugh, R. H. (1993). Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory: Two approaches for exploring mea-surement invariance. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 552-566. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.114.3.552
57. Roese, N. J., & Jamieson, D. W. (1993). Twenty years of bogus pipeline research: A critical review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 363-375. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.114.2.363
58. Samejima, F. (1969). Estimation of latent ability using a response pattern of graded scores (Psychometric Monograph No. 17). Richmond, VA: Psychometric Society. Retrieved from http://www.psychometrika.org/journal/online/MN17.pdf
59. Sassler, S. (2010). Partnering across the life course: Sex, relationships, and mate selection. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 557-575. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00718.x
60. Schenk, J., & Pfrang, H. (1986). Extraversion, neuroticism, and sexual behavior: Interrelationships in a sample of young men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 15, 449-455. doi:10.1007/BF01542309
61. Schmitt, D. P. (2003). Universal sex differences in the desire for sexual variety: Tests from 52 nations, 6 continents, and 13 islands. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 85-104. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.85
62. Schmitt, D. P. (2004). The Big Five related to risky sexual behaviour across 10 world regions: Differential personality associations of sexual promiscuity and relationship infidelity. European Journal of Personal-ity, 18, 301-319. doi:10.1002/per.520
63. Schmitt, D. P. (2005). Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: A 48-nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 247-275. doi:10.1017/S0140525X05000051
64. Schwartz, S. H., & Rubel-Lifschitz, T. (2009). Cross-national variation in the size of sex differences in values: Effects of gender equality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 171-185. doi:10.1037/a0015546
65. Segura, S. L., & González-Romá, V. (2003). How do participants construe ambiguous response formats of affect items? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 956-968. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.956
66. Simpson, J. A. (2009). Editorial. Journal of Personality and Social Psy-chology, 96, 60. doi:10.1037/a0014798
67. Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1991). Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Jour-nal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 870-883. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.60.6.870
68. Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1992). Sociosexuality and romantic partner choice. Journal of Personality, 60, 31-51. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1992.tb00264.x
69. Sinharay, S., Johnson, M. S., & Stern, H. S. (2006). Posterior predictive assessment of item response theory models. Applied Psychological Mea-surement, 30, 298-321. doi:10.1177/0146621605285517
70. Smith, D. B., & Ellingson, J. E. (2002). Substance versus style: A new look at social desirability in motivating contexts. Journal of Applied Psychol-ogy, 87, 211-219. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.87.2.211
71. Smith, L. L., & Reise, S. P. (1998). Gender differences on negative affectivity: An IRT study of differential item functioning on the Multi-dimensional Personality Questionnaire stress reaction scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1350-1362. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.5.1350
72. Steenkamp, J. B. E. M., de Jong, M. G., & Baumgartner, H. (2010). Socially desirable response tendencies in survey research. Journal of Marketing Research, 47, 199-214. doi:10.1509/jmkr.47.2.199
73. Tourangeau, R., & Yan, T. (2007). Sensitive questions in surveys. Psy-chological Bulletin, 133, 859-883. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.5.859
74. Trobst, K. K., Wiggins, J. S., Costa, P. T., Jr., Herbst, J. H., McCrae, R. R., & Masters, H. L., III. (2000). Personality psychology and problem behaviors: HIV risk and the five-factor model. Journal of Personality, 68, 1233-1252. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00133
75. Tuerlinckx, F., De Boeck, P., & Lens, W. (2002). Measuring needs with the Thematic Apperception Test: A psychometric study. Journal of Person-ality and Social Psychology, 82, 448-461. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.3.448
76. Turchik, J. A., & Garske, J. P. (2009). Measurement of sexual risk taking among college students. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 936-948. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9388-z
77. United Nations Development Programme. (2001). Human development report 2001. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
78. United Nations Statistics Division. (2001). World population prospects: The 2000 revision. Vol. 1: Comprehensive tables. New York, NY: United Nations.
79. Warner, S. L. (1965). Randomized response: A survey technique for eliminating evasive answer bias. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 60, 63-69.
80. Weinhardt, L. S., Forsyth, A. D., Carey, M. P., Jaworski, B. C., & Durant, L. E. (1998). Reliability and validity of self-report measures of HIV-related sexual behavior: Progress since 1990 and recommendations for research and practice. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 27, 155-180. doi: 10.1023/A:1018682530519
81. Wicherts, J. M., Dolan, C. V., & Hessen, D. J. (2005). Stereotype threat and group differences in test performance: A question of measurement invariance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 696-716. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.696