Monitoring the Future (MTF) Public-Use Cross-Sectional Datasets

collection: series

Studies

6

Variables

13,344

Publications

853

About this Collection

The Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of the Lifestyles and Values of Youth annual surveys were designed to explore changes in important values, behaviors, and lifestyle orientations of contemporary American youth. The surveys began in 1975 with 12th-grade students only. Eighth- and 10th-grade student surveys were added in 1991 under the title Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth (8th- and 10th-Grade Surveys) and, in 1996, the designation "12th-Grade Survey" was added to the titles of the subsequent 12th-grade surveys. When examining the issues covered by the series, two general types of tasks may be distinguished. The first task is to provide a systematic and accurate description of the youth population of interest in a given year and to quantify the direction and rate of change occurring over time. The second task, more analytic than descriptive, involves the explanation of the relationships and trends observed. Each year, large, distinct, nationally representative samples of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students in the United States are asked to respond to drug use and demographic questions, as well as to additional questions on a variety of subjects, including attitudes toward religion, parental influences, changing roles of women, educational aspirations, self-esteem, exposure to sex and drug education, and violence and crime - both in and out of school. In each grade, students are randomly assigned to complete questionnaires with a subset of topical questions in addition to a set of core questions on demographics and drug use. For a guide to the questions asked each year in each questionnaire, along with their subject areas and variable names, users may refer to the question indexes under the For Researchers section below.

For more information, visit the Monitoring the Future Web site.

Years Produced: Annually. Note: the 1975 data is not available. Data available from NAHDAP are the annual cross-sectional datasets  

For more information about the MTF Restricted-Use Data, see Monitoring the Future (MTF) Restricted-Use Cross-Sectional Datasets

For Researchers

Studies

6 results

Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth (12th-Grade Survey), 2008

This survey of 12th-grade students is part of a series that explores changes in important values, behaviors, and lifestyle orientations of contemporary American youth. Students are randomly assigned to complete one of six questionnaires, each with a different subset of topical questions, but all containing a set of "core" questions on demographics and drug use. There are about 1,400 variables across the questionnaires. Drugs covered by this survey include tobacco, smokeless tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, hashish, prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, LSD, hallucinogens, amphetamines (stimulants), Ritalin (methylphenidate), Quaaludes (methaqualone), barbiturates (tranquilizers), cocaine, crack cocaine, GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate), ecstasy, methamphetamine, and heroin. Other topics include attitudes toward religion, changing roles for women, educational aspirations, self-esteem, exposure to drug education, and violence and crime (both in and out of school).

Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth (8th- and 10th-Grade Surveys), 2008

These surveys of 8th- and 10th-grade students are part of a series that explores changes in important values, behaviors, and lifestyle orientations of contemporary American youth. Students in each grade are randomly assigned to complete one of four questionnaires, each with a different subset of topical questions but containing a set of "core" questions on demographics and drug use. There are more than 450 variables across the questionnaires. Drugs covered by this survey include amphetamines (stimulants), barbiturates (tranquilizers), other prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, tobacco, smokeless tobacco, alcohol, inhalants, steroids, marijuana, hashish, LSD, hallucinogens, cocaine, crack, ecstasy, methamphetamine, and injectable drugs such as heroin.

Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of the Lifestyles and Values of Youth, 1994

This is the twentieth annual survey in this series that explores changes in important values, behaviors, and lifestyle orientations of contemporary American youth. The students are randomly assigned one of six questionnaires, each with a different subset of topical questions but all containing a set of "core" questions on demographics and drug use. There are about 1,300 variables across the questionnaires. Full details on the research design and procedures, sampling methodology, content areas, and questionnaire design, as well as percentage distributions by respondent's sex, race, region, college plans, and drug use, appear in the annual ISR volumes MONITORING THE FUTURE: QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES FROM THE NATION'S HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS.