Reliability and Validity of Retrospective Behavioral Self-Report By Narcotics Addicts

Issues related to the reliability and validity of self-reported behavior within a deviant population are examined using data obtained from narcotics addicts in two face-to-face interviews conducted 10 years apart. The same measures of behavioral self-report for an overlapping period of 4-5 years were collected at each interview and were analyzed within a test-retest design. Agreement between measures obtained at the two recall points was reasonably good except for low-frequency behaviors and for measures of income and monetary costs. The correlation coefficients of the intervariable relationships measured at each interview increased as the constituent item reliabilities increased. Urinalyses conducted at each interview generally validated recent self-reported narcotics use.