Cross-Cultural Sources of Measurement Error in Substance Use Surveys

Abstract

We present an overview of the cross-cultural quality of survey reports of substance use behaviors in the United States. Empirical data from 36 published studies (1977–2003) are examined to evaluate the reliability and validity of substance use reports across cultural groups. In these studies, race/ethnicity are used as proxy indicators of respondent culture. In general, the available research suggests that, with a few exceptions, the quality of survey data on racial and ethnic disparities in substance use is often limited by differential measurement error. A conceptual paradigm is presented to consider a wide range of potential causes for these differences in measurement error that includes two dimensions: emphasis on negative vs. positive behavior patterns, and emphasis on internal vs. external causal factors. These two dimensions yield four potential models that are useful in understanding variations in substance use measurement error: the cultural deficit model, the cultural conflict model, the mainstream conformitymodel, and the cultural distrust model. Future research should focus on the ability of each of these alternative models to account for cultural variability in the quality of substance use reporting.

• Culture
• Survey measurement error
• Substance use
• Risk
• High risk populations
• Proxy indicators
• Recanting

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Timothy P. Johnson

Timothy Johnson, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in medical sociologyfrom the University of Kentucky in 1988. He has 20 years of full-time experience at university-based survey research centers and is currently Director of the Universityof Illinois Survey Research Laboratory. Dr. Johnson is also Associate Professor of Public Administration at the Universityof Illinois at Chicago, a Vice Chair of the University’s Institutional Review Board and a member of the editorial board for Substance Use and Misuse. He is a faculty member of MESIDU/ MEMSIDU in Israel and in Italy. Johnson is currently engaged in two streams of research. One stream focuses on substance use patterns among special populations, including homeless adults and adolescents, immigrants, refugees, and other economically disadvantaged groups. The other focuses on sources of measurement error in survey research with a special emphasis on the effects of respondent culture on survey measurement and participation.

Phillip J. Bowman

Phillip J. Bowman, Ph.D., is currently Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy as well as Professor of African-American Studies and Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Bowman received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan where he later directed a postdoctoral training program in survey research methodology and served as StudyDirector for a series of landmark national surveys on African-American life at the Institute for Social Research. In addition to the University of Michigan, he has also been a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and Northwesten Universitywhere he directed innovative research projects and related research training programs on race, ethnic, and public policy issues. His research bridges basic social psychological theory and innovative cross-cultural research methodology to address pressing race and policy issues including urban poverty, health disparities, educational inequalities, workforce diversity, family welfare, crime, and community development.