Validity Of Retrospective Reports Research Articles

Childhood maltreatment and DSM-IV adult mental disorders: Comparison of prospective and retrospective findings

Prior research reports stronger associations between childhood maltreatment and adult psychopathology when maltreatment is assessed retrospectively compared with prospectively, casting doubt on the mental health risk conferred by maltreatment and on the validity of retrospective reports. To investigate associations of psychopathology with prospective v. retrospective maltreatment ascertainment. A nationally representative sample of respondents aged 16-27 years (n = 1413) in New Zealand completed a retrospective assessment of maltreatment and DSM-IV mental disorders. Survey data were linked with a national child protection database to identify respondents with maltreatment records (prospective ascertainment). Childhood maltreatment was associated with elevated odds of mood, anxiety and drug disorders (odds ratios = 2.1-4.1), with no difference in association strength between prospective and retrospective groups. Prospectively ascertained maltreatment predicted unfavourable depression course involving early onset, chronicity and impairment. Prospectively and retrospectively assessed maltreatment elevated the risk of psychopathology to a similar degree. Prospectively ascertained maltreatment predicted a more unfavourable depression course.

Validity of adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences: review of the evidence.

Influential studies have cast doubt on the validity of retrospective reports by adults of their own adverse experiences in childhood. Accordingly, many researchers view retrospective reports with scepticism. A computer-based search, supplemented by hand searches, was used to identify studies reported between 1980 and 2001 in which there was a quantified assessment of the validity of retrospective recall of sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical/emotional neglect or family discord, using samples of at least 40. Validity was assessed by means of comparisons with contemporaneous, prospectively obtained, court or clinic or research records; by agreement between retrospective reports of two siblings; and by the examination of possible bias with respect to differences between retrospective and prospective reports in their correlates and consequences. Medium- to long-term reliability of retrospective recall was determined from studies in which the test-retest period extended over at least 6 months. Retrospective reports in adulthood of major adverse experiences in childhood, even when these are of a kind that allow reasonable operationalisation, involve a substantial rate of false negatives, and substantial measurement error. On the other hand, although less easily quantified, false positive reports are probably rare. Several studies have shown some bias in retrospective reports. However, such bias is not sufficiently great to invalidate retrospective case-control studies of major adversities of an easily defined kind. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that little weight can be placed on the retrospective reports of details of early experiences or on reports of experiences that rely heavily onjudgement or interpretation. Retrospective studies have a worthwhile place in research, but further research is needed to examine possible biases in reporting.

Measuring strategy production during associative learning: the relative utility of concurrent versus retrospective reports.

Strategy production during associative learning can be measured by self-reports made either concurrently with study or retrospectively. Both kinds of report presumably have strengths and weaknesses, yet a systematic comparison has not been conducted. Younger and older adults studied paired associates and reported strategy production using one or both kinds of report. Participants either received or did not receive descriptions of mediational strategies prior to study. Retrospective reports were not completely consistent with concurrent reports, suggesting that the validity of retrospective reports is somewhat diminished by forgetting. Making concurrent reports did not affect subsequent retrospective reports, but describing strategies affected reported strategy production for both age groups and paired-associate recall for older adults. A production deficiency constrained older adults' performance when they did not receive strategy descriptions prior to study. Discussion focuses on the relative utility of concurrent and retrospective reports of strategy production.

Book Review: Autobiographical Memory and the Validity of Retrospective Reports

Book Review: Autobiographical Memory and the Validity of Retrospective Reports

Book Review: Autobiographical Memory and the Validity of Retrospective Reports

Book Review: Autobiographical Memory and the Validity of Retrospective Reports

Autobiographical Memory and the Validity of Retrospective Reports

Autobiographical Memory and the Validity of Retrospective Reports

Using self-report and parental- report survey data to assess past and present academic achievement of adults and children

Because interview and survey data on past or present school performance are frequently used in psychology, psychiatry, and related fields, the accuracy of self- reports and parent reports of academic achievement during the 1st through 12th grades was examined in this study. Questionnaire and archival longitudinal test data were obtained for 1,118 children and adults as part of a family study of learning disorders. The validity of retrospective reports about the self, and parental reports about offspring, was tested by comparing survey responses to actual test scores. Analyses indicate that historical information on school achievement is adequately valid ( r = .32–.72). However, the accuracy of such information varied with subjects' gender, age, and whether they had been low or normal achievers in school. Specifically, multiple-regression analyses suggested that for self-reports, accuracy was higher for females, normal achievers, and people in the middle age range. For parent reports on offspring, accuracy improved if the child was in the middle age range and was a normal achiever. The implications of these findings for future clinical practice and developmental research are discussed.

The impact of administration mode on response effects in survey measurement

AbstractThe major differences between face‐to‐face and telephone interviews as well as self‐administered questionnaires are reviewed and are related to the cognitive and communicative processes assumed to underlie the process of question answering. Based on these considerations the impact of administration mode on the emergence of well‐known response effects in survey measurement is discussed, and relevant experimental evidence is reported. It is concluded that administration mode affects the emergence of question order and context effects; the emergence of response order effects; the validity of retrospective reports; and the degree of socially desirable responding. The emergence of question wording and question form effects, on the other hand, appears to be relatively independent of administration mode.

Out of Work, Out of Mind: Response Errors in Retrospective Reports of Unemployment

This article examines several aspects of the validity of retrospective reports of unemployment, obtained by a comparison of respondent reports with company records for a sample of workers from a large manufacturing firm. We find that reports of the total amount of unemployment in the calendar year prior to the interview are reasonably accurate, but reports of the timing of spells of unemployment within the year are much less accurate. Estimates of a regression model relating response error to measures of respondent characteristics, the length of the recall period, the difficulty of the reporting task, and the likely salience of the events show that the salience measures are clearly the most important and that time and demographic factors are relatively unimportant predictors of response error.

Retrospective exaggeration of symptoms: vomiting after gastric surgery for obesity.

The possibility that patients may retrospectively exaggerate the severity of complaints that they have experienced has not been systematically investigated. The validity of retrospective reports was called into question by a study of vomiting following gastric bypass surgery for obesity. Such vomiting occurred relatively infrequently--no more than 3.4 times per week, even during the first postoperative month. At a 6-month follow-up, however, some patients reported that they had experienced very high rates of vomiting postoperatively, in direct contradiction to their earlier reports. Such retrospective exaggeration has apparently contributed to the widespread belief that vomiting following gastric bypass surgery is a serious problem. We believe that this report is the first to describe retrospective exaggeration of symptoms. Further research is needed to assess the extent of this problem.

Attractiveness of decision rules

Four groups of fifteen subjects were each presented with a hypothetical choice situation (job offers or apartments). Before choosing, the subjects were informed about three compensatory and three non-compensatory decision rules and were asked to rate the applicability of each rule in the given situation. Means of the applicability ratings were highest for two compensatory rules. The response distributions across individuals and situations indicated that the subjects could distinguish among the rules in a meaningful way. Reported usage of decision rules was closely related to the applicability ratings, particularly for the conjunctive rule. Factors favoring certain rules were discussed, as well as the validity of retrospective reports on decision rules.

The Validity of Retrospective Reports of Unwanted Births in the United States: Effects of Preference for Children of a Given Sex

The effects of preference for children of a given sex upon the validity of retrospective reports of unwanted births were investigated. Ryder and Westoffs (1975) definition of unwanted birth as the outcome of an unwanted pregnancy in the 1965 National Fertility Study was used. Preference for children of a given sex varies with the number of previous births and the sex of present children. Births that do not satisfy sex-of-child preferences can be expected to be reported retrospectively as unwanted more often than births satisfying preferences. A Fortran computer program was prepared to classify births as unwanted timing failure timing success or nonfailure. After being checked the program was used to classify single births for the 4810 women in the 1965 National Fertility Study sample under age 45. 50.3% of the births of this sample were males. As wanted and unwanted births are defined according to contraceptive practice and fertility desires before conception and since the same biological process determines the sex of either a wanted or unwanted pregnancy the sex distribution of unwanted births should be the same as the sex distribution of all births except for random variation. The comparison of the percent of unwanted male births with the percent of all male births is the basic analytic technique. The data indicate that preference for children of a given sex moderately distorts retrospective reports of unwanted births. For 7 of the 9 cases in which direction of bias was predicted the expected bias was observed. When there is no preference for children of a given sex the sex distribution of retrospectively reported unwanted births is not distorted. The total patterns of evidence support the hypothesis that preference for children of a given sex moderately distorts retrospective reports of unwanted births.

Validity of retrospective reports assessed by the multitrait-multimethod analysis.

Validity of retrospective reports assessed by the multitrait-multimethod analysis.