Version Date: Oct 31, 2022 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Richard A. Miech, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center;
Lloyd D. Johnston, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center;
Jerald G. Bachman, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center;
Patrick M. O'Malley, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center;
John E. Schulenberg, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center;
Megan E. Patrick, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38502.v1
Version V1
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.
Highlights for 2021:
Export Citation:
Census Region
Users are reminded that these data are to be used solely for statistical analysis and reporting of aggregated information and not for the investigation of specific individuals.
This study was conducted by the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
To protect the anonymity of respondents, all variables that could be used to identify individuals have been collapsed or recoded in the public use files. These modifications are noted in the codebook. They should not affect analytic uses of the public use files.
Variables omitted from the Western region questionnaires are noted in the codebook.
A cross-time question index is included with the available documentation for the MTF 8th- and 10th-grade data. The document is sorted by subject area and covers the time period 1991 to 2021.
Frequency and percentage distributions displayed in the 2021 codebook are unweighted, rather than weighted as they had been in previous years. This change was made to simplify both the production of the codebook and their interpretation by the analyst.
MTF does not release detailed geography codes in its public use files because of the disclosure risk it would cause. The MTF sample is drawn to generate representative samples of the four Census Bureau regions of the country (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West), but it does not generate representative samples of smaller geographic areas such as states, counties, or cities. For additional information about data that are withheld from the public use files, please see the study codebook.
A total of 23,238 students completed a survey in 2021. There were 11,446 8th graders and 11,792 10th graders. The number of students completing each form were:
The split is approximately equal between forms completed by 8th graders and 10th graders.
In 2021, data collection of the full nationally-representative samples resumed, with some changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the sampling procedures remained consistent, survey administrations were adapted for hybrid teaching environments - remote and in-class learning. The MTF questionnaires were converted to web-based surveys. Students were provided a link to the survey, and the surveys could be completed on their own device or one provided by the school at home or in the classroom.
Halfway through the 2021 survey administration, it was discovered that parts of some questions were organized differently for the 2021 web survey than for the 2019 tablet survey, i.e. sets of questions appeared on different "screens" when comparing the web and tablet surveys. The web surveys were reprogrammed to match the "screen breaks" in the 2019 tablet surveys. Please refer to Appendix D in the codebook for impacted variables.
A multistage area probability sample design was used involving three selection stages: (1) geographic areas or primary sampling units (PSUs), (2) schools (or linked groups of schools) within PSUs, and (3) students within sampled schools. Of the 72 PSUs, 8 were selected with certainty, 10 were selected with a probability of .50, and the remainder were selected using a probability based on their 2010 Census household count. Generally speaking, in schools with more than 350 students in the grade, a sample of students or classes was drawn. In schools with fewer than 350 students in a grade, all students were asked to participate unless logistical challenges required a sample be taken. For the 8th-grade survey, schools with fewer than 20 8th graders were generally excluded from the sample. For the 10th-grade survey, schools with fewer than 25 10th graders were excluded, with very few exceptions. Each school was asked to participate for two years so that each year one-half of the sample would be replaced. Schools refusing participation were replaced with similar schools in terms of geographic location, size, and type of school (e.g., public, private/Catholic, private/non-Catholic). The participation rate among 8th and 10th grade schools has been between 78 and 91 percent since the inception of the study.
Enrolled 8th- and 10th-grade students in the contiguous United States.
The downloadable data file contains a total of 696 variables. The original file provided by the Principal Investigators contained 695 variables (654 survey questions, 12 administrative variables, and 29 recoded variables). The Principal Investigators created the 29 recoded variables to aid in analysis and utility.
Not all of the 654 survey questions were asked on each form. There are 181 variables (27 percent) that are common among all 4 forms. Each variable label contains a notation of which forms asked that particular question. On average each form asked approximately 365 questions.
All of the survey questions are categorical in nature. The majority of questions fall into one of seven types of response options.
The student response rates for the 2021 8th- and 10th-grade surveys were 82 percent and 78 percent, respectively.
Hide2022-10-31
2022-10-31 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:
The file contains a weight variable, V5. It originally varied by school but was modified to protect respondent confidentiality. Users should use the weight variable for all analyses, the results of which will differ slightly from published data tables that used original data.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: As the MTF respondents are sampled using a multi-stage sampling design, it is often desirable to incorporate the complex sample design information into analyses. However, in order to protect respondent confidentiality, the variables that represent the complex sample design of the MTF, i.e., sampling stratum and cluster, are omitted from the public use files. For researchers who wish to incorporate the unaltered weight variable and complex sample design variables into their analyses, these variables are now accessible through restricted access from NAHDAP. Please see Monitoring the Future (MTF) Restricted-Use Cross-Sectional Datasets for details.
HideThe 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.
