DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37786.v1
title: Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study [United States] Special Collection Public-Use Files
title: PATH Study (SCPUF)
title: Version 1

description: 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 tobacco users and non-users. 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 at the time of Wave 4. This sample was recruited from residential addresses not selected for Wave 1 in the same sampled 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 civilian, noninstitutionalized population at the time of Wave 4. This combined set of Wave 4 participants, 52,731 participants in total, forms the Wave 4 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 and Wave 4 Cohorts. Wave 4.5 is 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 is 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 is the first annual follow-up wave. Dataset 0001 (DS0001) contains the data from the Master Linkage file. This file contains 54 variables and 67,276 cases. The file provides a master list of every person's unique identification number and what type of respondent they were for each wave, starting with Wave 1. 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. Datasets 1112, 1212, 1222, (DS1112, DS1212, and DS1222) are data files comprising the weight variables for Wave 4.5. The "all-waves" weight file contains weights for youth respondents in the Wave 1 Cohort who completed an interview for all waves in which they were old enough to do so or verified their information with the study for waves in which they were not old enough to be interviewed. 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 responded to the interview in Wave 4.5, regardless of their participation in previous waves. The "single-wave" weight file for the Wave 4 Cohort contains weights for youth in the Wave 4 Cohort who responded to the youth interview in Wave 4.5.
description: The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study is a longitudinal cohort study on tobacco use behavior, attitudes and beliefs, and tobacco-related health outcomes among approximately adults and youth in the United States. The study's primary objectives are to: Objective 1: Identify and explain between-person differences and within-person changes in tobacco-use patterns, including the rate and length of use by specific product type and brand, product/brand switching over time, uptake of new products, and dual- and poly-use of tobacco products (i.e., use of multiple products within the same time period and switching between multiple products).; Objective 2: Identify between-person differences and within-person changes in risk perceptions regarding harmful and potentially harmful constituents, new and emerging tobacco products, filters and other design features of tobacco products, packaging, and labeling; and identify other factors that may affect use, such as social influences and individual preferences.; Objective 3: Characterize the natural history of tobacco dependence, cessation, and relapse, including readiness and self-efficacy to quit, motivations for quitting, the number and length of quit attempts, and the length of abstinence related to various tobacco products.; Objective 4: Update the comprehensive baseline and subsequent waves of data on tobacco-use behaviors and related health conditions, including markers of exposure and tobacco-related disease processes identified from the collection and analysis of biospecimens, to assess between-person differences and within-person changes over time in health conditions potentially related to tobacco use, particularly with use of new and different tobacco products, including modified-risk tobacco products.; Objective 5: Assess associations between TCA-specific actions and tobacco-product use, risk perceptions and attitudes, use patterns, cessation outcomes, and tobacco-related intermediate endpoints (e.g., biomarkers of exposure and biomarkers related to disease). Analyses will attempt to account for other potential factors, such as demographics, local tobacco-control policies, and social, familial, and economic factors, that may influence the observed patterns.; Objective 6: Assess between-person differences and within-person changes over time in attitudes, behaviors, exposure to tobacco products, and related biomarkers among and within population sub-groups identified by such characteristics as race-ethnicity, gender, and/or age, or by risk factors, such as pregnancy or co-occurring substance use or mental health disorders.; Objective 7: To the extent to which sample sizes are sufficient, assess and compare samples of former and never users of tobacco products for between-person differences and within-person changes in relapse and uptake, risk perceptions, and indicators of tobacco exposure and disease processes.; Objective 8: Use data from the PATH Study's baseline and follow-up waves on tobacco-use behaviors, attitudes, and related health conditions, including potential markers of exposure and related disease processes identified from the analysis of biospecimens, to screen and subsample respondents for participation in formative and/or nested studies conducted during and after the PATH Study's waves of data and biospecimen collection.;
description: The target population for the Wave 1 Cohort in Wave 4.5 is the resident population of the U.S. and ages 13-17 at the time of Wave 4.5 (other than those who were incarcerated) who were in the U.S. CNP. The target population for the Wave 4 Cohort in Wave 4.5 is the resident population of the U.S. and ages 12-17 at the time of Wave 4.5 (other than those who were incarcerated) who were in the U.S. CNP.
description: Parents and youths were asked about the following types of tobacco products: Cigarettes; E-cigarettes/Electronic nicotine products; Cigars (traditional, cigarillos, filtered); Pipe tobacco; Hookah; Smokeless tobacco (snus pouches and other forms of smokeless tobacco); Dissolvable tobacco; Bidis and kreteks (youth only); Although each section on tobacco products has some unique questions, most questions fit into one of the following categories: Ever use; Recency of use; Frequency of use; Amount of use; Brands used; Purchase details; Use of flavored products; Harm and addictiveness; Reasons for use; Additional topics include: Poly use; Nicotine dependence; Packaging and health warnings; Risk and harm perceptions; Secondhand smoke exposure; Marketing and advertising; Media use; Demographics; Health; Psychosocial and mental health; Substance use; Cessation; Peer and family influences; Most questions asked in the questionnaires are categorical. Other questions ask, for example, the age at which something occurred or the person's body measurements. Responses to these questions are numerical.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Response Rates: The weighted Wave 4.5 youth interview response rate for the Wave 1 Cohort (conditional on Wave 1 participation) was 74.6 percent; the weighted Wave 4.5 youth interview response rate for the Wave 4 Cohort (conditional on Wave 4 participation) was 89.1 percent. Please consult the Public-Use Files User Guide for further information regarding response rates.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Master Linkage File DS1002: Wave 4.5: Youth / Parent Questionnaire Data DS1112: Wave 4.5: Youth / Parent - Wave 1 Cohort All-Waves Weights DS1212: Wave 4.5: Youth / Parent - Wave 1 Cohort Single-Wave Weights DS1222: Wave 4.5: Youth / Parent - Wave 4 Cohort Single-Wave Weights
description: Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Series
description: audio computer-assisted self interview (ACASI)
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI)
description: The resident population of the United States who were ages 13-17 at the time of Wave 4.5 (other than those who were incarcerated) and part of the civilian, non-institutionalized household population of the United States at the time of Wave 1 (Wave 1 Cohort); the resident population of the United States who were ages 12-17 at the time of Wave 4.5 (other than those who were incarcerated) and part of the civilian, non-institutionalized household population of the United States at the time of Wave 4 (Wave 4 Cohort). Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: A four-stage stratified area probability sample design was used in the PATH Study, with a two-phase design for sampling adults at the final stage. At the first stage, a stratified sample of geographical primary sampling units (PSUs) was selected, in which a PSU is a county or group of counties. For the second stage, within each selected PSU, smaller geographical segments were formed and then a sample of these segments was drawn. At the third stage, the sampling frame consisted of the residential addresses located in these segments. The fourth stage selected adults and youth from the sampled households identified at these addresses, with varying sampling rates for adults by age, race, and tobacco use status. Adults were sampled in two phases - Phase 1 sampling used information provided in the household screener and Phase 2 sampling used information provided by the adult in the Phase 2 screener at the beginning of the Adult instrument.At Wave 4, a probability sample of adults, youth, and shadow youth ages 10 to 11 was selected. This sample was recruited from residential addresses not selected for Wave 1 in the same sampled PSUs and segments using similar within-household sampling procedures. Please consult the Public-Use Files User Guide for additional details about the sampling. There was no additional sampling for Wave 4.5. Wave 4.5 is a special data collection in which PATH Study participants ages 12 to 17 at the time of Wave 4.5 were interviewed.