Telephone surveys underestimate cigarette smoking among African-Americans
Abstract
Background: This study tested the hypothesis that data from random digit-dial telephone surveys underestimate the prevalence of cigarette smoking among African-American adults. Method: A novel, community-sampling method was used to obtain a statewide, random sample of N D2118 California (CA) African-American/Black adults, surveyed doorto- door. This Black community sample was compared to the Blacks in the CA Health Interview Survey (N D2315), a statewide, random digit-dial telephone survey conducted simultaneously. Results: Smoking prevalence was significantly higher among community (33%) than among telephone survey (19%) Blacks, even after controlling for sample differences in demographics. Conclusion: Telephone surveys underestimate smoking among African-Americans and probably underestimate other health risk behaviors aswell. Alternative methods are needed to obtain accurate data on African-American health behaviors and on the magnitude of racial disparities in them.
Publication Title
Frontiers in Public Health
Recommended Citation
Landrine, H., Corral, I., Simms, D., Roesch, S., Pichon, L., Ake, D., & Villodas, F. (2013). Telephone surveys underestimate cigarette smoking among African-Americans. Frontiers in Public Health, 1 (SEP), 36. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2013.00036
