Andrea Piesse

Effects of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign on youths.

OBJECTIVES We examined the cognitive and behavioral effects of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign on youths aged 12.5 to 18 years and report core evaluation results. METHODS From September 1999 to June 2004, 3 nationally representative cohorts of US youths aged 9 to 18 years were surveyed at home 4 times. Sample size ranged from 8117 in the first to 5126 in the fourth round (65% first-round response rate, with 86%-93% of still eligible youths interviewed subsequently). Main outcomes were self-reported lifetime, past-year, and past-30-day marijuana use and related cognitions. RESULTS Most analyses showed no effects from the campaign. At one round, however, more ad exposure predicted less intention to avoid marijuana use (gamma = -0.07; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.13, -0.01) and weaker antidrug social norms (gamma = -0.05; 95% CI = -0.08, -0.02) at the subsequent round. Exposure at round 3 predicted marijuana initiation at round 4 (gamma = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.00, 0.22). CONCLUSIONS Through June 2004, the campaign is unlikely to have had favorable effects on youths and may have had delayed unfavorable effects. The evaluation challenges the usefulness of the campaign.

Design and methods of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study

Background This paper describes the methods and conceptual framework for Wave 1 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study data collection. The National Institutes of Health, through the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is partnering with the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products to conduct the PATH Study under a contract with Westat. Methods The PATH Study is a nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study of 45 971 adults and youth in the USA, aged 12 years and older. Wave 1 was conducted from 12 September 2013 to 15 December 2014 using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing to collect information on tobacco-use patterns, risk perceptions and attitudes towards current and newly emerging tobacco products, tobacco initiation, cessation, relapse behaviours and health outcomes. The PATH Studys design allows for the longitudinal assessment of patterns of use of a spectrum of tobacco products, including initiation, cessation, relapse and transitions between products, as well as factors associated with use patterns. Additionally, the PATH Study collects biospecimens from consenting adults aged 18 years and older and measures biomarkers of exposure and potential harm related to tobacco use. Conclusions The cumulative, population-based data generated over time by the PATH Study will contribute to the evidence base to inform FDAs regulatory mission under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act and efforts to reduce the Nations burden of tobacco-related death and disease.

On correcting measurement error in the persistence rate estimator

Abstract In the field of education, it is often of great interest to estimate the percentage of students who start out in the top test quantile at time 1 and who remain there at time 2, which is termed as “persistence rate,” to measure the students’ academic growth. One common difficulty is that students’ performance may be subject to measurement errors. We therefore considered a correlation calibration method and the simulation–extrapolation (SIMEX) method for correcting the measurement errors. Simulation studies are presented to compare various measurement error correction methods in estimating the persistence rate.