DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02833.v1
title: National Survey of Adolescents in the United States, 1995
title: Version 1

description: The goal of this study was to test specific hypotheses
 illustrating the relationships among serious victimization
 experiences, the mental health effects of victimization, substance
 abuse/use, and delinquent behavior in adolescents. The study assessed
 familial and nonfamilial types of violence. It was designed as a
 telephone survey of American youth aged 12-17 living in United States
 households and residing with a parent or guardian. One parent or
 guardian in each household was interviewed briefly to establish
 rapport, secure permission to interview the targeted adolescent, and
 to ensure the collection of comparative data to examine potential
 nonresponse bias from households without adolescent participation.
 All interviews with both parents and adolescents were conducted using
 Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology. From the
 surveys of parents and adolescents, the principal investigators
 created one data file by attaching the data from the parents to the
 records of their respective adolescents. Adolescents were asked
 whether violence and drug abuse were problems in their schools and
 communities and what types of violence they had personally
 witnessed. They were also asked about other stressful events in their
 lives, such as the loss of a family member, divorce, unemployment,
 moving to a new home or school, serious illness or injury, and natural
 disaster. Questions regarding history of sexual assault, physical
 assault, and harsh physical discipline elicited a description of the
 event and perpetrator, extent of injuries, age at abuse, whether
 alcohol or drugs were involved, and who was informed of the
 incident. Information was also gathered on the delinquent behavior of
 respondents and their friends, including destruction of property,
 assault, theft, sexual assault, and gang activity. Other questions
 covered history of personal and family substance use and mental health
 indicators, such as major depression, post-traumatic stress disorders,
 weight changes, sleeping disorders, and problems
 concentrating. Demographic information was gathered from the
 adolescents on age, race, gender, number of people living in
 household, and grade in school. Parents were asked whether they were
 concerned about violent crime, affordable child care, drug abuse,
 educational quality, gangs, and the safety of their children at
 school. In addition, they were questioned about their own
 victimization experiences and whether they discussed personal safety
 issues with their children. Parents also supplied demographic
 information on gender, marital status, number of children, employment
status, education, race, and income.
description: Childhood victimization has been found to be
 strongly related to substance use/abuse/dependence, delinquent
 behavior, and a variety of other mental, emotional, and behavioral
 problems. In the past, studies have either examined victimization by
 studying family violence and ignored other victimization experiences,
 or have assessed criminal violence and disregarded violence
 perpetrated by family members. This study assessed both familial and
 nonfamilial violence. The goal of the study was to test specific
 hypotheses generated by a theoretically and empirically constructed
 conceptual framework that illustrated the relationships among serious
 victimization experiences, the mental health effects of victimization,
 substance use/abuse, and delinquent behavior. The research objectives
 were (1) to provide descriptive information about cases of familial
 and nonfamilial violent assault, delinquent behavior, mental health
 problems, and substance use, abuse, and dependence, broken down by
 age, gender, family income, and racial/ethnic group among American
 adolescents, (2) to test a risk factor model that hypothesized
 relationships between violent familial and nonfamilial victimization
 in childhood and adolescence and risk of post traumatic stress
 disorder, delinquent behavior, and substance use, abuse, and
 dependence, and (3) to examine potential differences between gender
 and ethnic minority groups in the correlates and consequences of
 substance use/abuse/dependence and delinquent behavior. The primary
 hypothesis of this study was that victimization during childhood
 and/or adolescence increased the risk of developing significant
 psychological distress and substance use, which in turn increased risk
 for substance abuse or dependence, delinquent behavior, and subsequent
victimization.
description: The study was designed as a telephone survey of
 American youth between the ages of 12-17 who (1) were living in
 United States households with telephones, (2) resided with a parent or
 guardian, and (3) could converse in English or Spanish. All sample
 selection and interviewing was done by Schulman, Ronca, and Bucuvalas,
 Inc. (SRBI), a New York-based survey research team. All interviews
 with both parents and adolescents were conducted using
 Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology. After
 determining that the household contained one or more eligible
 adolescents, interviewers asked to speak to a parent or guardian. One
 parent or guardian in each household was interviewed briefly to
 establish rapport, secure permission to interview the targeted
 adolescent, and to ensure the collection of comparative data to
 examine potential nonresponse bias from households without adolescent
 participation. Parents and guardians were provided the opportunity to
 call a toll-free number to confirm the authenticity of the
 study. Whenever possible, adolescents were interviewed immediately
 following the parent or guardian interviews. Otherwise, appointments
 were scheduled when possible or blind callbacks at different times of
 the day or days of the week were made. As an incentive for
 participation, adolescent participants received a certificate of
 participation in the "National Survey of Adolescents" and a check for
 five dollars as compensation for their time. From the surveys of
 parents and adolescents, the principal investigators created one data
 file by attaching the data from the parents to the records of their
respective adolescents.
description: Adolescents were asked whether violence and drug
 abuse were problems in their schools and communities and what types of
 violence they had personally witnessed. They were also asked about
 other stressful events in their lives, such as the loss of a family
 member, divorce, unemployment, moving to a new home or school, serious
 illness or injury, and natural disaster. Questions regarding history
 of sexual assault, physical assault, and harsh physical discipline
 elicited a description of the event and perpetrator, extent of
 injuries, age at abuse, whether alcohol or drugs were involved, and
 who was informed of the incident. Information was also gathered on the
 delinquent behavior of respondents and their friends, including
 destruction of property, assault, theft, sexual assault, and gang
 activity. Other questions covered history of personal and family
 substance use and mental health indicators, such as major depression,
 post-traumatic stress disorder, weight changes, sleeping disorders,
 and problems concentrating. Demographic information was gathered from
 the adolescents on age, race, gender, number of people living in
 household, and grade in school. Parents were asked whether they were
 concerned about violent crime, affordable child care, drug abuse,
 educational quality, gangs, and the safety of their children at
 school. In addition, they were questioned about their own
 victimization experiences and whether they discussed personal safety
 issues with their children. Parents also supplied demographic
 information on gender, marital status, number of children, employment
status, education, race, and income.
description: Response Rates: Parents in 90.1 percent of eligible households
 completed interviews and parents in 78.9 percent of eligible
 households gave permission for their adolescents to be
 interviewed. Adolescent interviews were completed in 75 percent of
 eligible households, 83.2 percent of households with completed parent
interviews, and 95 percent of households with parental permission.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Stratified random sample.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: National Survey of Adolescents in the United States, 1995
description: Adolescents aged 12-17 in the United States.
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection
 instruments are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The
 PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be
 accessed using PDF reader software, such as Adobe Acrobat
 Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is
provided through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.