National Youth Smoking Cessation Survey, 2003-2005

This two-year longitudinal telephone survey interviewed tobacco smokers aged 16 to 24 years at baseline about their smoking cessation activity and related topics. Specific aims were: (1) To establish national baseline estimates for various indicators of smoking cessation activity among this age group for comparison with future surveys on the same topic; (2) To describe their natural history of quitting in a nationally representative sample; and (3) To develop statistical models predicting: making a quit attempt, maintaining abstinence, and selecting various quitting strategies. Respondents were interviewed at baseline, six-month follow-up, twelve-month follow-up, and 24-month follow-up. Topics covered by the questionnaires include smoking and use of other tobacco products; attitudes towards smoking and nicotine replacement therapy; patterns of quitting and discontinuance; methods of quitting and reasons for not quitting; lifestyle (alcohol use, physical activity level, weight loss, risk orientation, school performance, movie viewing); psychosocial issues (perceived stress, depressive symptoms, Attention-Deficit Disorder/Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder); smoking environment including parents'/guardians' smoking behaviors, quit attempts, and attitudes about the respondent's smoking; and tobacco marketing (use of or interest in promotional items and awareness of advertisements). Demographic information collected by the survey includes age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, educational attainment, school enrollment, employment, income, and language spoken at home.