Series editors J M Stephenson, A Babiker

The study of sexual behaviour lies at the heart of understanding the transmission dynamics of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Academic investigation into sexual behaviour dates back to the 18th century and, over time, has employed a variety of approaches including the medical and psychiatric investigation of sexual disorders, anthropological investigations, and survey research based largely on volunteer samples. More recent studies, driven largely by the public health response to HIV/AIDS, have focused on large scale probability sample survey research.1–5 Key areas of inquiry have shifted towards describing population patterns of risk behaviours for STI/HIV transmission, understanding how epidemics of STIs are generated, and informing disease control strategies.

Sexual behaviour is a largely private activity, subject to varying degrees of social, cultural, religious, moral and legal norms and constraints. A key challenge for all sex survey research is to generate unbiased and precise measures of individual and population behaviour patterns. Methods are needed to minimise measurement error which may be introduced by participation bias, recall and comprehension problems, and respondents' willingness to report sensitive and sometimes socially censured attitudes or behaviours.6, 7 This paper briefly considers the role of different types of study in understanding STI epidemiology. It then focuses on potential sources of measurement error in survey research and strategies for assessing and limiting them.Sex Transm Inf 2001;77:84–92

The type of study chosen will depend on the purpose of the investigation. However, studies generally fall into four main groups: general population surveys, studies on population subgroups, partner and network studies, ethnographic and qualitative studies.

### GENERAL POPULATION PROBABILITY SAMPLE SURVEYS

Cross sectional population surveys aim to describe the overall distribution of behaviours in populations. By using probability sampling techniques and maximising response rates, large scale behavioural surveys can provide robust estimates of the prevalence …

https://sti.bmj.com/content/sextrans/77/2/84.full.pdf

Measuring sexual behaviour: methodological challenges in survey research

Gender is increasingly used as an analytical framework in program and policy development for youth in Africa but in most cases gender refers almost exclusively to the disadvantages that women and girls face. Given the extent of gender inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa an almost exclusive focus on women and girls has been appropriate. However a gender perspective and gender mainstreaming have too often ignored the gender of men and boys. The aim of this paper is to explore what a gender perspective means when applied to young men in Africa focusing on conflict violence and HIV/AIDS. It explores the construction of manhoods in Africa and argues for the application of a more sophisticated gender analysis that also includes men and youth. The authors carried out an extensive literature review identified promising programs applying a gender perspective to work with young men carried out 50 informant interviews with staff working with young men in Botswana Nigeria South Africa and Uganda and 23 focus group discussions and interviews with young men in Nigeria South Africa and Uganda. (excerpt)

/pdf/young-men-and-the-construction-of-masculinity-in-sub-saharan-mozo5um4d1.pdf

Young Men and the Construction of Masculinity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS, Conflict and Violence

This study addresses the frequency and the distribution of reported lying in the adult population. A national survey asked 1,000 U.S. adults to report the number of lies told in a 24-hour period. Sixty percent of subjects report telling no lies at all, and almost half of all lies are told by only 5% of subjects; thus, prevalence varies widely and most reported lies are told by a few prolific liars. The pattern is replicated in a reanalysis of previously published research and with a student sample. Substantial individual differences in lying behavior have implications for the generality of truth‐lie base rates in deception detection experiments. Explanations concerning the nature of lying and methods for detecting lies need to account for this variation.

/pdf/the-prevalence-of-lying-in-america-three-studies-of-self-vjp2xdxp9q.pdf

The Prevalence of Lying in America: Three Studies of Self-Reported Lies

Microbicide acceptability research: current approaches and future directions.

This supplement contains selected papers from a workshop on the measurement of sexual behaviour in the era of HIV/AIDS held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in September 2003 The focus was on low and middle income countries, where the majority of HIV infections occur The motive for holding such a meeting is easy to discern As the AIDS pandemic continues to spread and as prevention programmes are scaling up, the need to monitor trends in sexual risk behaviours becomes ever more pressing Behavioural data are an essential complement to biological evidence of changes in HIV prevalence or incidence Biological evidence, though indispensable, is by itself insufficient for policy and programme guidance AIDS control programmes need to be based on monitoring of not only trends in infections but also of trends in those behaviours that underlie epidemic curtailment or further spread

https://sti.bmj.com/content/sextrans/80/suppl_2/ii1.full.pdf

Monitoring sexual behaviour in general populations: a synthesis of lessons of the past decade

This study aimed to compare data obtained from coital diaries (CD) with those collected using weekly recall (WR) and daily recall (DR) questionnaires. 79 female sex workers aged 18-44 coming from KwaZulu-Natal South Africa were studied. They were followed up every month with clinical examination and treatment of STDs provision of condoms and CD collection. There were 52 WR 27 DR and 79 CD records collected from the participants. Results showed that CD records showed a significantly greater mean number of clients compared to the questionnaires (23.3 vs. 13.6 P < 0.001) number of condoms used (2.7 vs. 0.5 P < 0.001) vaginal acts (6.8 vs. 2.9 P < 0.001) and anal acts (1.9 vs. 0.7 P = 0.044). Daily accounts of weekly sexual activity showed significant differences in 1) the number of days worked (6.2 vs. 5.2 P = 0.009) 2) the number of clients (21.7 vs. 17.4 P = 0.027) and 3) the number of anal acts with clients (3.9 vs. 0.8 P = 0.004) with higher means reported in the CD records for all cases. The CD records are an important instrument for gathering preliminary sexual behavioral information; however their use is limited to long-term data collection. Therefore a comprehensive recall questionnaire is recommended for future trials.

Recording sexual behavior: comparison of recall questionnaires with a coital diary.

With the explosive nature of the South African AIDS epidemic there is an urgent need for HIV prevention methods controlled by women. Because several microbicide trials are going on in South Africa and elsewhere there also is an urgent need to determine South African mens perceptions of and preferences for a potential vaginal microbicide. 243 men were recruited from three sites in South Africa: sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics (N = 95) the general population (N = 98) and universities (N = 50). A brief demonstration of a potential vaginal gel microbicide was followed by a private interview which included questions about mens demographic characteristics sexual activities condom use and willingness to support their partners use of a vaginal product. The mean ages of men from STD clinics the general population and universities were 30 28 and 23 years respectively. 45% of men from STD clinics 69% from the general population and 65% of the university students reported a dislike for male condoms. More than 80% of the entire sample wanted their partner to be protected against HIV and other STDs. The majority of the men in the three groups (77-87%) would like their partner to use a microbicide and 66-82% said they would like to be involved in the decision to use a microbicide. Men were more likely to prefer a vaginal product that prevents HIV and STD transmission and does not act as a contraceptive that one that acts only as a contraceptive. The majority (58-67%) of men reported that excess lubrication was not a desired product characteristic. Vaginal microbicides may be acceptable to South African men. The amount of lubrication provided by the product and non-interference with sexual pleasure may be keys to product acceptability. Preference for an effective non-contraceptive microbicide was greater than for a contraceptive product. (authors)

https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2716401.pdf

The acceptability of a vaginal microbicide among South African men.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Amy E. Weber

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Recording sexual behavior: comparison of recall questionnaires with a coital diary.

The acceptability of a vaginal microbicide among South African men.