Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study [United States] Special Collection Public-Use Files

The PATH Study was launched in 2011 to inform the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory activities under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA). The PATH Study is a collaboration between the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The study sampled over 150,000 mailing addresses across the United States to create a national sample of people who do and do not use tobacco.
45,971 adults and youth constitute the first (baseline) wave, Wave 1, of data collected by this longitudinal cohort study. These 45,971 adults and youth along with 7,207 "shadow youth" (youth ages 9 to 11 sampled at Wave 1) make up the 53,178 participants that constitute the Wave 1 Cohort. Respondents are asked to complete an interview at each follow-up wave. Youth who turn 18 by the current wave of data collection are considered "aged-up adults" and are invited to complete the Adult Interview. Additionally, "shadow youth" are considered "aged-up youth" upon turning 12 years old, when they are asked to complete an interview after parental consent.
At Wave 4, a probability sample of 14,098 adults, youth, and shadow youth ages 10 to 11 was selected from the civilian, noninstitutionalized population (CNP) at the time of Wave 4. This sample was recruited from residential addresses not selected for Wave 1 in the same sampled Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) and segments using similar within-household sampling procedures. This "replenishment sample" was combined for estimation and analysis purposes with Wave 4 adult and youth respondents from the Wave 1 Cohort who were in the CNP at the time of Wave 4. This combined set of Wave 4 participants, 52,731 participants in total, forms the Wave 4 Cohort.At Wave 7, a probability sample of 14,863 adults, youth, and shadow youth ages 9 to 11 was selected from the CNP at the time of Wave 7. This sample was recruited from residential addresses not selected for Wave 1 or Wave 4 in the same sampled PSUs and segments using similar within-household sampling procedures. This "second replenishment sample" was combined for estimation and analysis purposes with the Wave 7 adult and youth respondents from the Wave 4 Cohorts who were at least age 15 and in the CNP at the time of Wave 7. This combined set of Wave 7 participants, 46,169 participants in total, forms the Wave 7 Cohort.Please refer to the Public-Use Files User Guide that provides further details about children designated as "shadow youth" and the formation of the Wave 1, Wave 4, and Wave 7 Cohorts.
Wave 4.5 was a special data collection for youth only who were aged 12 to 17 at the time of the Wave 4.5 interview. Wave 4.5 was the fourth annual follow-up wave for those who were members of the Wave 1 Cohort. For those who were sampled at Wave 4, Wave 4.5 was the first annual follow-up wave.Wave 5.5, conducted in 2020, was a special data collection for Wave 4 Cohort youth and young adults ages 13 to 19 at the time of the Wave 5.5 interview. Also in 2020, a subsample of Wave 4 Cohort adults ages 20 and older were interviewed via the PATH Study Adult Telephone Survey (PATH-ATS).Wave 7.5 was a special collection for Wave 4 and Wave 7 Cohort youth and young adults ages 12 to 22 at the time of the Wave 7.5 interview. For those who were sampled at Wave 7, Wave 7.5 was the first annual follow-up wave.
Dataset 1002 (DS1002) contains the data from the Wave 4.5 Youth and Parent Questionnaire. This file contains 1,395 variables and 13,131 cases. Of these cases, 11,378 are continuing youth having completed a prior Youth Interview. The other 1,753 cases are "aged-up youth" having previously been sampled as "shadow youth."
Datasets 1112, 1212, and 1222, (DS1112, DS1212, and DS1222) are data files comprising the weight variables for Wave 4.5. The "all-waves" weight file contains weights for participants in the Wave 1 Cohort who completed a Wave 4.5 Youth Interview and completed interviews (if old enough to do so) or verified their information with the study (if not old enough to be interviewed) in Waves 1, 2, 3, and 4.
There are two separate files with "single wave" weights: one for the Wave 1 Cohort and one for the Wave 4 Cohort. The "single-wave" weight file for the Wave 1 Cohort contains weights for youth who completed an interview in Wave 1 and in Wave 4.5, regardless of their participation in the intervening waves. The "single-wave" weight file for the Wave 4 Cohort contains weights for all Wave 4.5 Youth Interview respondents in the Wave 4 Cohort.
Dataset 1503 (DS1503) contains data derived from responses to questionnaires in Wave 1, Wave 2, Wave 3, Wave 4, and Wave 4.5 indicating if participants had ever/never used various tobacco products as of the Wave 4.5 data collection period. This data file contains 26 variables for all 67,276 study participants as of the Wave 4.5 data collection. This file is provided for reference only to simplify the definitions of tobacco use variables in the Adult and Youth data files for subsequent waves.Dataset 2001 (DS2001) contains the data from the Wave 5.5 Adult Questionnaire. This file contains 2,323 variables and 3,628 cases. Of these cases, 1,014 are continuing adults having completed a prior Adult Questionnaire. The other 2,614 cases are "aged-up adults" having previously completed a Youth Questionnaire.Dataset 2002 (DS2002) contains the data from the Wave 5.5 Youth and Parent Questionnaire. This file contains 1,625 variables and 7,129 cases. Of these cases, 7,076 are continuing youth having completed a prior Youth Interview. The other 53 cases are "aged-up youth" having previously been sampled as "shadow youth."Datasets 2111, 2112, 2121, 2122, 2221, and 2222 (DS2111, DS2112, DS2121, DS2122, DS2221, and DS2222) are data files comprising the weight variables for Wave 5.5. In Wave 5.5, the weight variables are in individual data files corresponding to the Wave 1 and Wave 4 Cohorts and different weight types.There are two separate sets of files with "all-waves" weights: one for the Wave 1 Cohort and one for the Wave 4 Cohort. The "all-waves" weight file for the Wave 1 Cohort contains weights for participants who completed a Wave 5.5 interview and completed interviews (if old enough to do so) or verified their information (if not old enough to be interviewed) in Waves 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, and 5. The "all-waves" weight file for the Wave 4 Cohort contains weights for participants who completed a Wave 5.5 interview and completed interviews (if old enough to do so) or verified their information (if not old enough to be interviewed) in Waves 4, 4.5, and 5.The "single-wave" weight file for the Wave 4 Cohort contains weights for all Wave 5.5 interview respondents.Dataset 3001 (DS3001) contains the data from PATH-ATS. This file contains 908 variables and 8,874 cases, all of which are continuing adults having completed a prior Adult Questionnaire, with their most recent interview in Wave 5.Datasets 3111 and 3121 (DS3111 and DS3121) are data files comprising weights for PATH-ATS. In PATH-ATS, weight variables are in individual files corresponding to the Wave 1 and Wave 4 Cohorts. The "all-waves" weight file for the Wave 1 Cohort contains weights for participants who completed an interview in PATH-ATS and completed interviews in Waves 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The "all-waves" weight file for the Wave 4 Cohort contains weights for participants who completed an interview in PATH-ATS; all PATH-ATS respondents completed interviews in Wave 4 and Wave 5.
Dataset 2503 (DS2503) contains data derived from responses to questionnaires in Wave 1, Wave 2, Wave 3, Wave 4, Wave 4.5, Wave 5, Wave 5.5, and PATH-ATS, indicating if participants had ever/never used various tobacco products as of the Wave 5.5/PATH-ATS data collection period. This data file contains 26 variables for all 67,276 study participants as of the Wave 5.5/PATH-ATS data collection. This file is provided for reference only to simplify the definitions of tobacco use variables in the Adult and Youth data files for subsequent waves.Dataset 4001 (DS4001) contains the data from the Wave 7.5 Adult Questionnaire. This file contains 2,760 variables and 7,961 cases. Of these cases, 5,952 are continuing adults having completed a prior Adult Questionnaire. The other 2,009 cases are "aged-up adults" having previously completed a Youth Questionnaire.Dataset 4002 (DS4002) contains the data from the Wave 7.5 Youth and Parent Questionnaire. This file contains 1,889 variables and 8,949 cases. Of these cases, 7,064 are continuing youth having completed a prior Youth Interview. The other 1,885 cases are "aged-up youth" having previously been sampled as "shadow youth."Datasets 4111, 4112, 4121, 4122, 4221, 4222, 4231, and 4232 (DS4111, DS4112, DS4121, DS4122, DS4221, DS4222, DS4231, and DS4232) are data files comprising the weight variables for Wave 7.5. In Wave 7.5, the weight variables are in individual data files corresponding to the Wave 1, Wave 4, and Wave 7 Cohorts and different weight types.There are two separate sets of files with "all-waves" weights: one for the Wave 1 Cohort and one for the Wave 4 Cohort. The "all-waves" weight file for the Wave 1 Cohort contains weights for participants who completed a Wave 7.5 interview and completed interviews (if old enough to do so) or verified their information (if not old enough to be interviewed) in Waves 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, and 7. The "all-waves" weight file for the Wave 4 Cohort contains weights for participants who completed a Wave 7.5 interview and completed interviews (if old enough to do so) or verified their information (if not old enough to be interviewed) in Waves 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, and 7.There are two separate sets of files with "single-waves" weights: one for the Wave 4 Cohort and one for the Wave 7 Cohort. The "single-wave" weight file for the Wave 4 Cohort contains weights for Wave 7.5 interview respondents in the Wave 4 Cohort, regardless of their response status at Waves 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, or 7. The "single-wave" weight file for the Wave 7 Cohort contains weights for all Wave 7.5 interview respondents in the Wave 7 Cohort.