It is used to estimate prevalence, to monitor trends in drug use over time, and to evaluate factors associated with drug use. Questionnaires are administered to respondents at their place of residence. The target population is estimated to represent more than 98 percent of the total U.S. population aged 12 and older.
Specific information is available for the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs.
In addition, this time period includes mental health information that has never been available in prior surveys. This instrument provides comprehensive assessment of psychological difficulties during the adolescent period. The instrument makes it possible to generate a global score for overall psychosocial distress, as well as summary measures of behavioral and emotional disorders, and specific measures of depression, anxiety, withdrawal, somatic complaints, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, delinquency, and aggressive behavior. For 1994-B, changes were implemented to improve the measurement of trends, reduce data processing time, and enrich the overall quality of the data. The revised questionnaire was used with 17,809 respondents.