DOI: 10.13020/d6np4q
title: The Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort (MACC) Study 2000-2013

description: The primary aim of the MACC study was to evaluate local tobacco control programs in Minnesota, and the secondary aim was to better define the patterns of tobacco use in young adults and to evaluate the effects of tobacco control programs on these patterns.
description: Please see the included PDF file "MACC Info and Description" for further details on the study staff, methods, and content. This pdf also contains a fuller list of all the authors of this dataset.
"The MACC Study employs a multilevel design, including a cohort sequential design of five ages at the individual level where individuals (adolescents) are surveyed every six months. These individuals are nested in GPUs (geo-political units) and there are longitudinal observations at the GPU level every six months as well. Finally, individuals and GPUs were randomly assigned a specific month within the six-month window for each observation; thus each month constitutes an observation in a time series design for the state of Minnesota" (page 5).
"A combination of probability and quota sampling methods (to assure equal age distribution) was used to establish the cohort. The goal was to recruit 3600 participants from Minnesota. These participants included 12 of each age from 12 to 16 years old from each of the 60 Minnesota GPUs. Recruitment was conducted by telephone by Clearwater Research, Inc., using modified random digit dial (MOD1) sampling to identify households with at least one teenager in the target age range within the target GPU. Within households, respondents were selected at random from among age quota cells that were still open for that GPU. Parent permission was obtained by telephone followed by permission from the chosen teenager before interviewing. In addition a comparison cohort (n=600) consisting of approximately 180 12-16 year olds from metropolitan Kansas City KS and MO, 240 from the rest of Kansas, 60 each from North and South Dakota and 60 from the upper peninsula of Michigan were recruited into the study. We chose these states because as of 2000 they had devoted few resources from the Master Settlement Agreement to tobacco control and because they roughly corresponded to the demographics of Minnesota. Adolescents were interviewed by phone every six months, on the six-month anniversary of their previous interview. Parent permission was obtained before each interview until the respondent was 18 years old" (page 6).
"The initial survey included questions and scales that have been validated by others, and/or used by large national surveys such as the National Youth Tobacco Survey....The questions were structured so that spoken responses would not be revealing to anyone overhearing the respondent. The phone interview lasted from 10-20 minutes, depending upon the smoking status of the respondent. Minor modifications were made for each round to add new questions or delete questions that need not be repeated" (page 7).
Quotations in this section are from the original publication on study design and baseline results:
Forster, J., Chen, V., Perry, C., Oswald, J., & Willmorth, M. (2011). The Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort Study: Design and Baseline Results. Prevention Science, 12(2), 201-210. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-011-0205-x. PMCID: PMC4089859.