Surveying Sexualities: Minimizing Survey Error in Study of Sexuality. In: Delamater J, Plante RF, editors. Handbook of the Sociology of Sexualities. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2015. pp. 93-107. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-17341-2_6]

Inter-partner Agreement of Condom Use and Sexual Positioning in Male Couples

Accurate, reliable self-reports of sexual behavior are a crucial component of valid HIV risk-estimation and behavioral intervention evaluation, yet this data's reliability remains understudied. The goal of this study was to describe interpartner agreement on recent receptive anal intercourse (AI) and condomless receptive AI frequencies, among a sample of male couples. We quantified interpartner agreement on self-reported receptive AI and condomless receptive AI (absolute and relative to AI frequency), and position and condom use during a couple's most recent AI, using cross-sectional data from male partners (US, 2016-2017; N = 718 individuals). Proportional and statistical agreement (intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), kappa (k)) were assessed. Observed agreement for receptive AI frequency was 49.44% (ICC (95% CI): 0.82(0.79, 0.84)) and for relative receptive frequency, 59.05% (ICC: 0.96 (0.85, 0.96). Agreement on condomless receptive AI was 90.21% (ICC: 0.78 (0.75, 0.82), and for relative condomless receptive AI, 91.15% (ICC: 0.80 (0.77, 0.83). Most recent AI position agreement was 89.42% (k (95% CI): 0.84 (0.80, 0.88)), and condom use, 98.89% (k: 0.82 (0.87, 0.98)). Observed agreement was higher among those who reported consistent positioning and condom use. Further research on self-reported sexual behavior data is needed to improve research validity and intervention effectiveness.

Measuring Cohabitation in U.S. National Surveys

Cohabitation is one of the fastest growing family forms in the United States. It is widespread and continues to increase but has not been consistently measured across surveys. It is important to track the quality of data on cohabitation because it has implications for research on the correlates and consequences of cohabitation for adults and children. Recent rounds of the Current Population Survey (CPS), National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY-97), and National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provide an opportunity to contrast estimates of cohabitation status and experience using nationally representative data sets and assess the quality of data on cohabitation in these data sets. Results demonstrated that the surveys provide similar estimates of current cohabitation status, except the CPS resulted in lower estimates. In terms of cohabitation experience (i.e., having ever cohabited), Add Health produced higher estimates, whereas both the NSFG and NLSY-97 produced lower estimates. We documented a strong education gradient across all surveys, with lower levels of current cohabitation and cohabitating experience and with increases in educational attainment. Racial/ethnic differences in cohabitation were inconsistent across surveys. We discuss aspects of sampling and measurement that potentially explain differences in estimates. Our findings have implications not only for survey design but also for the interpretation of results based on these four national surveys.

Gender and the Stability of Same-Sex and Different-Sex Relationships Among Young Adults

Most research on the stability of adult relationships has focused on coresidential (cohabiting or married) unions and estimates rates of dissolution for the period of coresidence. Studies examining how the stability of coresidential unions differs by sex composition have typically found that same-sex female couples have higher rates of dissolution than same-sex male couples and different-sex couples. We argue that the more elevated rates of dissolution for same-sex female couples are a by-product of the focus on coresidential unions. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to compare rates of dissolution based on the total duration of romantic and sexual relationships for same-sex male couples, same-sex female couples, and different-sex couples. Results from hazard models that track the stability of young adult relationships from the time they are formed demonstrate that male couples have substantially higher dissolution rates than female couples and different-sex couples. Results based on models restricted to the period of coresidence corroborate the counterintuitive finding from earlier studies that female couples have the highest rates of dissolving coresidential unions. This study underlines the importance of comparisons between these couple types for a better understanding of the role that institutions and gender play in the stability of contemporary relationships.