The effect of interviewer-respondent age difference on the reporting of sexual activity in the Demographic and Health Surveys: Analysis of data from 21 countries

Background Interviewer effects can have consequential impacts on survey data, par-ticularly for reporting sensitive attitudes and behaviours such as sexual activity and drug use, yet these effects remain understudied in low-and middle-income countries. The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) present a unique opportunity to study in-terviewer effects on the self-report of sensitive topics in low-and middle-income coun-tries by including interviewer characteristics data. This paper aims to narrow the gap in research on interviewer effects by studying the effects that age difference between interviewer and respondent and interviewer survey experience have on the reporting of ever having sexual intercourse. Methods We used DHS data from 91 066 women and 56 336 men in 21 countries where the standard DHS was implemented among all women of reproductive age, and interviewer characteristics were included in the data set. Using a Bayesian cross-clas-sified model with random intercepts for interviewer and cluster, we assessed whether the effect of an age difference of 10 years or greater was associated with a difference in self-report of ever having sexual intercourse, adjusting for respondent demographics. Results There was a meaningful association between an age difference of greater than ten years and reporting of ever having had sexual intercourse in most countries for both genders after adjusting for interviewer age and experience, rural or urban cluster, and individual-level characteristics. Among women, the marginal posterior probability of reporting ever having sexual intercourse if the interviewer was ten years or more years older was lower for 17 of 19 countries (countries ranged from-12.50 to 3.90 percentage points). Among men, the marginal posterior probability was lower for 16 of 20 coun-tries, ranging from-18.30 to 17.10 percentage points. Conclusions In most countries, women and men were less likely to report ever having sexual activity if the interviewer was ten or more years older than them, adjusting for potential confounders. These findings have important implications for interpreting nu-merous sexual health indicators, such as unmet family planning needs and human im-munodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) risk. Survey administrators may consider more careful interviewer-respondent characteristic match-ing or novel approaches like Audio Computer Assisted Self Interview to minimize in-terviewer-induced variance.

Automated summary

Interviewer characteristics, such as age difference and survey experience, have significant effects on reporting sensitive behaviors like sexual activity. Using DHS data from 21 countries, this study found that in most cases, respondents were less likely to report ever having sexual intercourse if the interviewer was 10 or more years older.