Disclosure of Sexual Intercourse by Teenagers: Agreement Between Telephone Survey Responses and Annual Visit Disclosures

Physicians can help guide teenagers in their emerging sexuality; however, teens rarely inform physicians about their sexual activity.

We audio-recorded annual visits between 365 teenagers and 49 physicians. sexual intercourse. Recordings were coded for teenage disclosures about previous sexual intercourse. We measured agreement between telephone survey responses and annual visit disclosures, and examined factors associated with agreement between the two.

Fifty-six teenagers (15%) reported previous sexual intercourse in either the telephone survey or to their physician. Among those who reported sexual intercourse, 57% shared this information to both the telephone survey and their physician (κ = .72, confidence interval = 0.63–0.82).

Although a slight majority of teenagers disclosed their sexual activity to both the telephone survey and their doctor, a significant number disclosed to just one source.

Below:  Consistency between teenagers' telephone survey answers and self-disclosures to their physician

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Stewart C. Alexander, PhD,1 J. Dennis Fortenberry, MD, MS,2 Kathryn I. Pollak, PhD,3,4 Truls Østbye, MD, PhD,4Terrill Bravender, MD, MPH,5 James A. Tulsky, MD,4 Rowena Dolor, MD,4,6 and Cleveland G. Shields, PhD1

²Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

³Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, USA

⁴Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

⁵University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

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1Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

2Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

3Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, USA

4Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

5University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

6Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

1Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA