History

The IU Smoking Survey began in 1980 under the direction of Dr. Steven “Jim” Sherman (Department of Psychology, Indiana University) and Drs. Laurie Chassin and Clark Presson (Department of Psychology, Arizona State University). The Monroe County School Corporation population of 6th-12th graders between 1980 and 1983 (8,503 students chose to participate) became the resource for investigating adolescent attitudes and behaviors toward cigarette smoking. The IU Smoking Survey is funded through a grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health.

In 1987, the investigators began to follow-up the same participants. By this time, half of the participants had graduated or otherwise left high school. The other half was finishing high school. The survey became more complicated; instead of one standardized form, there were two (one for high schoolers, and one for the young adults). Also the task of tracking those who had moved from home became an issue. Approximately one third of the questionnaires were still administered in the high schools while the other two thirds became self-administered, mailed questionnaires. In 1987, 73% of the original participants returned their questionnaires.

Seven years later, in 1994, another follow-up study was conducted. By this time, all participants had finished high school, and most were no longer living with their parents. So, we did a mailed survey. Again, 73% completed questionnaires.

By 1995, many of our original participants had adolescent children of their own. Original survey parents with a biological child age 10 or over who lived at least part time with the original survey participant were contacted to participate in a multigenerational family study. Around 300 families participated.

In 1999, we conducted another follow-up study of the original 8,503 participants. The response rate this time was 71%. We also collected data from 556 parent-child pairs to study the intergenerational transmission of smoking, and we surveyed all 7-11 graders in the Monroe County School System, using identical measures to our 1980-1983 study.

In 2004, we are launching another follow-up study of those same 8,503 participants. They will all complete a mailed survey. In addition, certain individuals and families (based on smoking status and presence of eligible children in the family) will complete additional surveys, one of which is web-based.