Are the Effects of Poor Survey Measurement of Sexual Identity on Estimated Associations between Sexual Identity and Health-Related Measures Moderated by the State-Level Policy Environment?

ABSTRACT: Including a "something else" response option for survey questions about sexual identity significantly moderates estimated differences between sexual identity subgroups in terms of behaviors and attitudes reported in U.S. health surveys. We hypothesize that these moderation effects will be larger in states with negative policies that fail to protect sexual minorities from discrimination. We tested this hypothesis by linking public-use data from the National Survey of Family Growth (2015-2019), which randomly assigned respondents to receive either a four-category measure of sexual identity, including "something else" as a response option, or a three-category measure omitting "something else," to year-specific state-level policy data from the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks state p

SUBMITTER: West BT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12130353 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature