DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02706
title: Differences in the Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use Across Five Factors in Indianapolis, Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas, 1994
title: Archival Version

description: This study investigated the accuracy of self-reported drug use in three ways. First, the researchers examined differences in the accuracy of self-reported drug use across five factors: gender, race, age, type of drug, and offense seriousness. Second, an attempt was made to determine the specific sources of inaccurate self-reports in terms of differences in underreporting and overreporting. Third, the researchers sought to explain differences in underreporting and overreporting in terms of true differences or differences in opportunity to underreport or overreport. This study used data collected in 1994 as part of the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) Program [DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997 (ICPSR 9477)]. The DUF drug testing and measurement methodology allows the accuracy of self-reported drug use to be checked with a biological criterion, namely urine tests. The sample for this study consisted of 4,752 white and Black adults from Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas. The five exogenous measures included in this study were type of drug (marijuana vs. crack/cocaine), age (18 through 30 vs. 31 or over), offense seriousness (misdemeanor vs. felony), race (Black vs. white), and gender (male vs. female). The endogenous measures were accuracy (self-report and drug test both positive or both negative vs. otherwise), underreporting (self-report negative but drug test positive vs. otherwise), and overreporting (self-report positive but drug test negative vs. otherwise). Variables include result of marijuana urine test, result of cocaine/crack urine test, marijuana self-report, cocaine/crack self-report, age group, sex, race, offense category, and ethnic/gender group.
description: Practitioners, researchers, and policymakers all rely extensively on measures of self-reported drug use to determine which drug prevention and rehabilitation services should be offered to whom, which services are successful, and which services should be expanded and continually funded. A well-known problem with self-reports is the uncertainty about their ability to accurately indicate what is being measured, especially when the topic is as sensitive as drug use. In particular, the extent to which self-reported drug use is a valid indicator of actual drug use across social groups has been repeatedly questioned. While patterns across previous studies suggest that validity differences in self-reported drug use do exist, these differences could not be statistically evaluated because of the diversity in the types of high-risk populations studied, the types of drug use measured, and the measurement procedures and conditions of each study. This study investigated the accuracy of self-reported drug use in three ways. First, the researchers examined differences in the accuracy of self-reported drug use across five factors: gender, race, age, type of drug, and offense seriousness. Second, an attempt was made to determine the specific sources of inaccurate self-reports in terms of differences in underreporting and overreporting. Third, the researchers sought to explain differences in underreporting and overreporting in terms of true differences or differences in opportunity. Only individuals who tested positive had the opportunity to underreport drug use. Similarly, only individuals who tested negative had the opportunity to overreport drug use.
description: This study used data collected in 1994 as part of the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) Program [DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997 (ICPSR 9477)]. The DUF program interviews arrestees on their lifestyle and drug use and collects urine specimens from each interviewee. The DUF drug testing and measurement methodology allows the accuracy of self-reported drug use to be checked with a biological criterion, namely urine tests. The sample for this study consisted of 4,752 white and Black adults from Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas. The five exogenous measures included in this study were type of drug (marijuana vs. crack/cocaine), age (18 through 30 vs. 31 or over), offense seriousness (misdemeanor vs. felony), race (Black vs. white), and gender (male vs. female). The endogenous measures were accuracy (self-report and drug test both positive or both negative vs. otherwise), underreporting (self-report negative but drug test positive vs. otherwise), and overreporting (self-report positive but drug test negative vs. otherwise). Procedures used to examine the differences in the accuracy of self-reported drug use and the differences in underreporting and overreporting of drug use were hierarchical loglinear, logit, and logistic regression models. The sources of differences in the underreporting and overreporting of drug use were examined with logistic regression models.
description: Variables include result of marijuana urine test, result of cocaine/crack urine test, marijuana self-report, cocaine/crack self-report, age group, sex, race, offense category, and ethnic/gender group.
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: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS1: Dataset
description: Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program/Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) Series
description: (1) Users are encouraged to refer to the documentation for ICPSR 9477 for more information on sampling procedures used to select respondents for that study. (2) Documentation on the analyses performed for this study is provided in the appendix to the codebook. (3) The user guide and codebook 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 the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Website.
description: All Black and white adults from the 1994 component of DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997 (ICPSR 9477) from Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas.
description: A stratified random sample of Black and white adults from the 1994 component of DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997 (ICPSR 9477) residing in Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas.