Abstract
Youth population surveys often contain questions about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), that include ‘Other’ and/or ‘Something Else’ responses accompanied with free text responses. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively identify how inaccurate and mischievous responses to SOGI questions can impact disparity estimates using data from the 2019–2020 California Student Tobacco Survey (N = 162,675). More than a third (36.67%) of youth that provided free text responses to SOGI questions responded with mischievous intent. Qualitative thematic analysis showed that references to inanimate objects (e.g. Apache helicopter) were the most common category reported. Youth also identified with nontraditional SOGI labels (e.g. nonbinary, pansexual) in their open text responses. Disparities in a full regression model were compared to models with inaccurate responders, mischievous responders, or both removed, and changes in effect size were calculated. Removal of mischievous responders and both mischievous and inaccurate responders increased disparities in depression symptomology and anxiety symptomology for youth reporting other gender identities when compared to cisgender youth. Given the importance of SOGI measurement on surveys, this study supports the need to account for potential bias, showing the usefulness of screening for mischievousness using qualitative responses for youth with unlisted responses in surveillance studies.
Published Version
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