Women's Health in Boston and Cambridge, 2000 [Massachusetts] (ICPSR 26583)
Version Date: Jun 16, 2010 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Ilan H. Meyer, Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR26583.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
Using Random Digit Dial, this study tested the feasibility of using a brief telephone interview to assess sexual attraction, behavior, and identity among women. A neighborhood in Boston with a high density of lesbian residents was selected. The study used three criteria to identify a neighborhood that was expected to have a high density of lesbian residents. Neighborhoods were defined by a postal ZIP code so that potential respondents could easily identify whether or not they lived in the target area. The criteria used were: (a) a high proportion of never-married females aged 35 years or older (calculated as ratio of ZIP code area to city wide, United States Department of Commerce, 1990), (b) a high proportion of female-headed households who also reported an unmarried female partner in the household (United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1990), and (c) a high proportion of female patients from the ZIP code area among Fenway Community Health Center female patients (Fenway Community Health Center is a major health service provider to gay and lesbian populations in Boston and Cambridge). These criteria led to the selection of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood in Boston. Women were eligible if they resided in that area, were between the ages of 18 and 59 years, and spoke English well enough to be able to answer the interview questions. Phone interviews lasted a mean of 5.6 minutes. Respondents who identified themselves as lesbian or bisexual completed an additional specialized section that lasted a mean of 2.5 minutes and inquired about participation in and identification with the gay/lesbian community. In total, 1,250 numbers were dialed. Of them, 169 (14 percent) were nonworking numbers, 165 (13 percent) were not households (e.g., businesses), 235 (19 percent) were indeterminable (number was never answered by a person), and 681 (54 percent) were households. Of these households, 439 (64 percent) were successfully screened, 176 (26 percent) refused or delayed screening, and 66 (10 percent) could not be screened (e.g., language barriers). Of the screened households, 223 (51 percent) were not eligible. Of 216 eligible households, 202 (94 percent) women completed the interview.
Citation View help for Citation
Export Citation:
Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
-
ZIP codes were recoded to protect respondent confidentiality. These modifications should not affect analytic uses of the public use files.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
This study tested the feasibility of using a brief telephone interview to assess sexual attraction, behavior, and identity among women.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Data was collected using random digit dial in the selected community. A total of 202 women completed the one time interview.
Sample View help for Sample
A neighborhood in Boston with a high density of lesbian residents was selected. The study used three criteria to identify a neighborhood that was expected to have a high density of lesbian residents. Neighborhoods were defined by a postal ZIP code so that potential respondents could easily identify whether or not they lived in the target area. The criteria used were: (a) a high proportion of never-married females aged 35 years or older (calculated as ratio of ZIP code area to city wide, United States Department of Commerce, 1990), (b) a high proportion of female-headed households who also reported an unmarried female partner in the household (United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1990), and (c) a high proportion of female patients from the ZIP code area among Fenway Community Health Center female patients (Fenway Community Health Center is a major health service provider to gay and lesbian populations in Boston and Cambridge).
Universe View help for Universe
Adult Females living in a Boston Neighborhood in 2000.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
Several Likert-type scales and other categorical variables were used.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2010-06-14
Version History View help for Version History
- Meyer, Ilan H. Women's Health in Boston and Cambridge, 2000 [Massachusetts]. ICPSR26583-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2010-06-16. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR26583.v1
2010-06-16 Principal Investigator (PI) name was corrected.
2010-06-14 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
- Standardized missing values.
- Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.