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SURVEY TITLE: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
ACRONYM: Add Health
SPONSOR: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), United States Department of Health and Human Services.
SURVEY PURPOSE: Add Health explores the causes of health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and their outcomes in young adulthood. The survey seeks to examine how social contexts (families, friends, peers, schools, neighborhoods, and communities) influence adolescents' health and risk behaviors.
LOCATION SAMPLED: Sampling frame included all high schools in the United States as well as their largest feeder schools.
YEARS SEXUAL ORIENTATION DATA COLLECTED: 1995, 1996, 2001.
SAMPLE SIZE: More than 12,000 adolescents were included in the main in-home sample which included the sexual orientation assessment questions.
METHOD OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION DATA COLLECTION: In home Audio-CASI.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION QUESTIONS:
Section 25 asks for the initials of the first romantic partner and then asks Q. 20. “What is
{Initials}’s sex?” This is repeated for the second and third romantic partners. (see Questionnaire Section 25).
Section 26 Q1. “Have you ever had a romantic attraction to a female?” Q2. “Have you ever had a romantic attraction to a male?” (see Questionnaire Section 26).
RESULTS:
SURVEY TITLE: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
ACRONYM: Add Health
SPONSOR: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), United States Department of Health and Human Services.
SURVEY PURPOSE: Add Health explores the causes of health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and their outcomes in young adulthood. The survey seeks to examine how social contexts (families, friends, peers, schools, neighborhoods, and communities) influence adolescents' health and risk behaviors.
LOCATION SAMPLED: Sampling frame included all high schools in the United States as well as their largest feeder schools.
YEARS SEXUAL ORIENTATION DATA COLLECTED: 1995, 1996, 2001.
SAMPLE SIZE: More than 12,000 adolescents were included in the main in-home sample which included the sexual orientation assessment questions.
METHOD OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION DATA COLLECTION: In home Audio-CASI.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION QUESTIONS:
Section 25 asks for the initials of the first romantic partner and then asks Q. 20. “What is
{Initials}’s sex?” This is repeated for the second and third romantic partners. (see Questionnaire Section 25).
Section 26 Q1. “Have you ever had a romantic attraction to a female?” Q2. “Have you ever had a romantic attraction to a male?” (see Questionnaire Section 26).
RESULTS:
- Halpern CT, Young ML, Waller MW, Martin SL, Kupper LL. Prevalence of partner violence in same-sex romantic and sexual relationships in a national sample of adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2004 Aug;35(2):124-31. PURPOSE: To present the first national prevalence estimates of psychological and physical intimate partner violence between adolescents in same-sex relationships. METHODS: Analyses focus on 117 adolescents aged 12-21 years (50% female) from Wave II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health who reported exclusively same-sex romantic or sexual relationships in the 18 months before interview. Items from the Conflict Tactics Scale were used to measure partner violence victimization. Data analysis included computation of prevalence estimates and a logistic regression analysis to assess associations between sociodemographic characteristics and violence victimization. RESULTS: Almost one-quarter of adolescents with same-sex romantic or sexual partners reported some type of partner violence victimization; about 1 in 10 reported physical victimization. Significant sex differences were found (OR = .29, CI = 0.08, 1.00), with males being less likely than females to report "any violence." Of six other sociodemographic characteristics examined, importance of religion (OR = .27, CI = 0.07-1.07) and school size (OR = .32, CI = 0.09-1.11) were associated with victimization at the p < .10 level. Adolescents who reported that religion was important to them and adolescents who attended larger schools were at lower risk of "any violence."CONCLUSIONS: As with opposite-sex relationships, psychological and minor physical violence victimization is common among adolescents involved in same-sex intimate relationships. Males reporting exclusively same-sex relationships were less likely than females to report experiencing the violence behaviors examined.
- Russell ST, Franz BT, Driscoll AK. Same-sex romantic attraction and experiences of violence in adolescence. Am J Public Health. 2001 Jun;91(6):903-6.OBJECTIVES: Recent national attention to hate crimes committed against lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths has highlighted the need to understand this group's experiences of violence. Using nationally representative data, we examine the associations between romantic attraction and experiences of violence, as well as the risk of witnessing violence and perpetrating violence against others. METHODS: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were examined. Youths reporting same-sex and both-sex romantic attractions were compared with those reporting other-sex attractions. Survey logistic regression was used to control for sample design effects. RESULTS: Youths who report same-sex or both-sex romantic attraction are more likely to experience extreme forms of violence than youths who report other-sex attraction. Youths reporting same-sex and both-sex romantic attractions are also more likely to witness violence. The higher incidence of violence perpetrated by youths attracted to the same sex is explained by their experiences of violence. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide strong evidence that youths reporting same-sex or both-sex romantic attraction are at greater risk for experiencing, witnessing, and perpetrating violence.
- Russell ST, Consolacion TB. Adolescent romance and emotional health in the United States: beyond binaries. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2003 Dec;32(4):499-508. Research on adolescent same-sex sexuality has focused almost exclusively on risk in the lives of self-identified lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. The attention to same-sex self identity may obscure heterogeneity in same-sex romance (attractions and relationships) and thus may inaccurately characterize sexual-minority youth as more different than heterosexual youth in terms of emotional health risk. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine the nexus of romantic attractions and relationships among contemporary U.S. adolescents, linking experiences of romance to indicators of emotional health. We conclude that broadening the scope of inquiry beyond binaries of identity (that is, gay vs. straight) provides the opportunity to more fully understand the health and well-being of all adolescents.