Interviewing Young Men about Sex and Procreation: Methodological Issues

Because clear instructions for interviewing men about their developing procreative identities do not exist, the authors discuss a variety of methodological issues that surfaced during in-depth interviews with young men about relationships, sex, contraception, pregnancy, and fatherhood. The authors interviewed a diverse sample of 50 single male participants, ages 16 to 30, who had dated at least one woman in the past 3 years (or had been married). The purpose of the reflexive analysis was to sensitize researchers, social service providers, and the authors to the challenges of conducting qualitative interviews with young men. The authors present indices for assessing interview success.