DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02391
title: National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 1996
title: Archival Version

description: This series measures the prevalence and correlates of drug
use in the United States. The surveys are designed to provide
quarterly, as well as annual, estimates. Information is provided on
the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco among members of United
States households aged 12 and older. Questions include age at first
use as well as lifetime, annual, and past-month usage for the
following drug classes: marijuana, cocaine (and crack), hallucinogens,
heroin, inhalants, alcohol, tobacco, and nonmedical use of
prescription drugs, including psychotherapeutics. Respondents were
also asked about substance abuse treatment history, illegal
activities, problems resulting from the use of drugs, personal and
family income sources and amounts, need for treatment for drug or
alcohol use, criminal record, and needle-sharing. Questions on mental
health and access to care, which were introduced in the 1994-B
questionnaire (see NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE, 1994
[ICPSR 6949]), were retained in this administration of the survey. In
1996, the section on risk/availability of drugs was reintroduced, and
sections on driving behavior and personal behavior were
added. Demographic data include gender, race, age, ethnicity, marital
status, educational level, job status, income level, veteran status,
and current household composition.
description: Data were weighted based on the five stages of sampling that were used. Adjustments were made to compensate for nonresponse and sampling error. Adjustments also included trimming sample weights to reduce excessive weight variation and a post-stratification to Census population estimates. The final weight variable to be used in analysis is ANALWT.
description: Response Rates: The interview response rates for the three racial/ethnic groups were: 77.1 percent for Whites/others, 79.4 percent for Blacks, and 80.9 percent for Hispanics. The overall unweighted interview response rate was 78.6 percent. A completed interview had to contain, at a minimum, data on the recency
of use of marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol.
description: Multistage area probability sample design involving five
selection stages: (1) primary sampling units areas (e.g., counties), (2) subareas within primary areas (e.g., blocks or block groups), (3) listing units within subareas, (4) domains within sampled listing units, and (5) eligible individuals within sampled domains. A total of
115 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), including areas of high Hispanic concentration, were selected to represent the total United States population. These PSUs were defined as metropolitan areas, counties, groups of counties, and independent cities. Of the 115 PSUs, 43 were selected with certainty and 72 were randomly selected with probability
proportional to size. Unlike the previous NHSDAs, the 1996 NHSDA did not oversample cigarette smokers aged 18-34. A design feature of the 1996 NHSDA is the overlap with segments previously surveyed in the 1995 NHSDA. About 95 percent of 1995 sample segments were screened again in 1996 to identify and sample occupied dwelling units in these
segments that had not previously been interviewed in the 1995 NHSDA. The reuse of 1995 NHSDA segments reduced the overall costs of counting and listing dwelling units in the 1996 NHSDA and also modestly increased the precision of comparisons between the 1995 and 1996 NHSDAs. The five age groups were: ages 12-17, 18-25, 26-34, 35-49, and 50 and
older. The three race/ethnic groups were: Whites/others, Blacks, and Hispanics. Blacks and Hispanics were oversampled. The study yielded an 84.9 percent eligibility rate for sample households and a 92.7 percent completion rate for screening eligible households.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 1996
description: The civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the
United States aged 12 and older, including residents of
noninstitutional group quarters, such as college dormitories, group
homes, shelters, rooming houses, and civilians dwelling on military
installations.
description: Data were collected by Research Triangle
Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC, and prepared for release by
National Opinion Research Center, Chicago, IL.The National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse questionnaire and estimation
methodology changed with the implementation of the 1994-B
survey. Therefore, estimates produced from the 1996 survey are not
comparable to those produced from the 1994-A and earlier surveys.For selected variables, statistical imputation was performed following
logical imputation to replace missing responses. These variables are
identified in the codebook as "...LOGICALLY IMPUTED" and
"...imputed" for the logical procedure or by the designation
"IMPUTATION-REVISED" in the variable label when the statistical
procedure was also performed. The names of statistically imputed
variables begin with the letters "IR". For each imputation-revised
variable there is a corresponding imputation indicator variable that
indicates whether a case's value on the variable resulted from an
interview response or was imputed by the hot-deck technique. Hot-deck
imputation is described in the codebook.The "basic sampling
weights" are equal to the inverse of the probabilities of selection
of sample respondents. To obtain "final NHSDA weights," the basic
weights were adjusted to take into account dwelling unit-level and
individual-level nonresponse and then further adjusted to ensure
consistency with intercensal population projections from the United
States Bureau of the Census.To protect the anonymity of
respondents, all variables that could be used to identify individuals
have been encrypted or collapsed in the public use file. These
modifications should not affect analytic uses of the public use
file.Users who wish to replicate results published in the NHSDA
Main Findings Report or other SAMHSA reports should use the 1996 NHSDA
imputed data for prevalence estimates rather than raw data from the
questionnaire or drug answer sheets.Family and personal income
range variables were constructed from two imputation-revised variables
that were deleted from the public use dataset and codebook due to
confidentiality issues. Users are advised that the recoded income
range variables cannot be replicated from the imputation-revised
variables (IRFINC1 and IRPINC1) contained in the public use file.For some drugs that have multiple names, questions regarding the use of that drug may be asked for each distinct name. For example, even though methamphetamine, methedrine and desoxyn are the same drug, their use was measured in three separate variables.