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He said, she said: concordance between sexual partners
S Marie Harvey1, Sheryl Thorburn Bird, Jillian T Henderson
1Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1201, USA. mharvey@oregon.uoregon.edu
Background:
Most studies of sexual behavior and risk are based on self-reports of individuals.
Goal:
The goal of this study was to assess interpartner concordance on self-reported sexual behavior, condom use, and relationship characteristics; and agreement between individuals' perceptions of their partners' sexual risks and the partners' actual reports.
Study Design:
Interviews were conducted separately but concurrently with 112 heterosexual couples at increased risk for HIV/sexually transmitted infections recruited through women at clinics and community locations.
Results:
Couples were concordant on reports of relationship characteristics (kappa > or = 0.84), sexual behavior, and condom use (r > or = 0.62), but disagreed on who has more power and sexual decision-making dominance (kappa < or = 0.26). We found substantial agreement between men's perceptions and their partners' reported risky behavior (kappa = 0.62), but only fair agreement between women's perceptions and their partners' reports (kappa = 0.30).
Conclusion:
Individual self-reports could be reliable measures of sexual behavior. Additionally, prevention interventions need to address women's misperceptions about their partners' risky behaviors.