Demographic and sexual characteristics of nonresponders to sexual experience items in a national survey

Abstract

Given the heavy reliance on self‐report measures, volunteer bias due to patterns of nonresponse is an important issue in sex research. In the present study, rates of nonresponse to self‐administered sexual experience questions posed to individuals in a national probability sample (NORC data; Davis & Smith, 1990) of English‐speaking adult households (N = 3,646) were analyzed as a function of demographic characteristics. Differences between responders and nonresponders in reported sexual experience on other items were also investigated. In general, rates of response to most of the sexuality items were quite high. With regard to three of the four sexual experience questions considered, men were more likely than women to respond. Among both men and women, nonresponders to each of the four sexuality items were generally older and reported less income and educational attainment than did responders. There were no differences in likelihood of responding to the sexuality items as a function of religious affiliation or size of city in which the participant resided. Self‐reported religious attendance and marital status were related in limited ways to likelihood of responding. Ethnicity was unrelated to likelihood of response to the sexual experience items for men, but was related for women with regard to two of the items. In general, when there were differences, nonresponders to one or more sexuality items reported having less sexual experience than did responders. Implications of the findings for survey research in human sexuality are discussed, as are related issues in need of further research.