APPLICATION OF A RESPONSE MODEL FOR MOTHER-DAUGHTER AGREEMENT BY RACE

Cross-tabulations of paired responses can be analyzed from the standpoint of an item response model. In this analysis of mother-daughter dyads, each member of whom has responded separately to a series of items regarding teenage sexual behavior, we examine (1) whether black and white families differ with respect to a series of items regarding sex and birth control; (2) whether our assessment of such differences varies depending on which generation is reporting; and (3) the extent to which we can infer that the meanings of both questions and response options are the same in the two groups. We show that disagreement between the generations is compatible with agreement within households, that generational differences are similar in the two races, and give an example where differences in the perceived meaning of response options compromises the comparison of black and white evaluations of their environment. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.