This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Aarø, L. E. Articles by Wubs, A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Aarø, L. E. Articles by Wubs, A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Parental education as an indicator of socioeconomic status: Improving quality of data by requiring consistency across measurement occasions

Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway, Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway, leif.aaro{at}psych.uib.no

Alan J. Flisher

Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Adolescent Health Research Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Sylvia Kaaya

Department of Psychiatry, Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Hans Onya

Health Promotion Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of Limpopo, Turfloop Campus, Polokwane, South Africa

Francis S. Namisi

Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway

Annegreet Wubs

Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway

Aims: Adolescents' reports of parents' education are sometimes used as indicators of socioeconomic status in surveys of health behaviour. The quality of such measurements is questionable. We hypothesized that consistent reporting of parents' education across measurement occasions in prospective panel studies indicates a higher quality of data than single or inconsistent reports. Methods: A multi-site, prospective panel study (three measurement occasions) was carried out among adolescents in Cape Town and Mankweng (South Africa), and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). Analyses were based on data from students participating at baseline and with a valid code for school number (n = 15,684). Results: For Cape Town and Dar es Salaam students, the associations between parents' education and an alternative indicator of socioeconomic status (both measured at baseline) increased with increasing consistency of reports about parents' education across measurement occasions. For Cape Town, the associations of father's education with a range of behavioural and social cognition variables were significantly stronger among ``consistent'' than among other students. The pattern was the same for mother's education, but with fewer significant interaction effects. Conclusions: Requiring consistency of reports across data-collection occasions may, under the right combination of circumstances, make a difference. Insignificant and ``close to zero'' associations may turn out to be at least moderately strong and statistically significant. When applying indicators of socioeconomic status, such as parents' highest level of completed education, it is most advantageous to use data from prospective panel studies, and to check for consistency of answers across measurement occasions.

Key Words: Adolescents • consistency • education • parents • reliability • socioeconomic status • South Africa • survey • Tanzania • validity

References

• Crombie IK, Irvine L., Elliott L., Wallace H. Closing the health inequalities gap: an international perspective. Copenhagen: World Health Organization, 2005.
• Power C., Matthews S. Origins of health inequality in a national population sample. Lancet 1997;350:1584-9.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Glendinning A., Hendry L., Shucksmith J. Lifestyle, health and social class in adolescence. Soc Sci Med 1995;41:235-48.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Koivusilta LK, Rimpelä AH, Rimpelä MK Health-related lifestyle in adolescence - origin of social class differences in health. Health Educ Res 1999;14:339-55.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Currie CE, Elton RA, Todd J., Platt S. Indicators of socioeconomic status for adolescents: the WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey. Health Educ Res 1997;12:385-97.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Bailey SL, Flewelling RL, Rachal JV The characterization of inconsistencies in self-reports of alcohol and marijuana use in a longitudinal study of adolescents. J Studies Alcohol 1992; 53:636-47.[Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Fendrich M., Mackesy-Amiti ME Decreased drug reporting in a cross-sectional student drug use survey. J Substance Abuse 2000;11:161-72.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Percy A., McAlister S., Higgins K., McCrystal P., Thornton M. Response consistency in young adolescents' drug-use self reports: a recanting rate analysis. Addiction 2005;100: 189-96.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Aarø LE, Flisher AJ, Kaaya S., Onya H., Fuglesang M., Klepp K.-I. Schaalma H. Promoting sexual and reproductive health in early adolescence in South Africa and Tanzania: development of a theory- and evidence-based intervention programme. Scand J Public Health 2006;34:150-8.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Mukoma W., Flisher AJ, Kaaya S., Onya H., Wubs A., Aarø LE, et al. Development, reliability and validity of a research instrument designed to evaluate school-based HIV/AIDS interventions in South Africa and Tanzania. Scand J Public Health 2007.
• Fendrich M., Vaughn CM Diminished life-time substance use over time: an inquiry into differential underreporting. Public Opin Q 58:96-123.
• Johnston LD, O'Malley PM The recanting of earlier reported drug use by young adults. In: Harrison L, Hughes A, editors. The validity of self-reported drug use: improving the accuracy of survey estimates. NIDA Research Monograph 167. Rockville, MD: National Institute of Drug Abuse. p 59-80.

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 37, No. 2 Suppl, 16-27 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1403494808086917


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Aarø, L. E. Articles by Wubs, A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Aarø, L. E. Articles by Wubs, A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?