Self-reported smoking and exercising behaviours during the postnatal period: assessing congruence between spouses

The aim of the study was to assess the congruence between women's self-reported behaviours during the postnatal period and the answers provided by their husbands. One hundred nineteen couples participated. Firstly, women reported their own smoking and exercising behaviours for four months following childbirth. Subsequently, husbands evaluated their spouses' behaviours over the same period of time. Smoking behaviour was assessed on 5-category scale ranging from non-smoker to daily smoker whereas physical activity was measured on a 6-category scale ranging from no physical activity to regular physical activity. The polychoric correlation coefficients and the weighted Kappa indexes indicated that the degree of congruence between respondent pairs were appropriate, but better for smoking than exercising. The results of the present study support the idea that the information obtained from spouses can be helpful in the assessment of the reliability of the answers provided by their live-in partner, particularly in surveys regarding smoking.