The NASY was first conducted in its present form in 2002 in the inaugural year of the Adolescent Risk Communication Institute of the APPC. It was preceded by two national RDD telephone surveys that focused on tobacco use done in the summer of 1999 (Annenberg Youth Perception of Tobacco Risk) with youth ages 14 to 22 and in the fall of 1999 that included youth ages 14 to 22 and adults ages 23+. Those surveys are also available for use on this site. Detailed descriptions of those surveys are presented in the volume edited by Paul Slovic: Smoking: Risk, Perception, & Policy, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press, 2001.
The NASY expanded on issues surrounding tobacco use to include questioning on youth gambling, media use, positive youth activities, suicide risk and mental health, and stigma of mental disorder. In subsequent years, new topics were rotated into the survey, such as school climates, political knowledge, social trust, impulsive decision making, and automobile driver risk taking. A unique feature of the survey is its inclusion of a Spanish version for those youth who prefer not to complete the interview in English. The NASY has been conducted by the survey firm Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas, Inc. (SRBI). Respondents are assured anonymity, and no respondent identifiers are provided in the data sets. It is approved annually by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Pennsylvania.
The first survey’s findings were reported in Reducing Adolescent Risk: Toward an Integrated Approach, edited by Dan Romer and published by Sage Press in 2003. Findings from other studies based on the survey are reported in press releases and journal articles listed on the ARCI website.
Each dataset in the series contains a weight variable that is described in the codebook for the survey. Also contained in the survey materials is a summary of the survey disposition including the overall response rate. This rate using the American Association for Public Opinion Resources formula 3 has ranged from 45% to 51%. The sample size has been 900 in most years. During the election year of 2004, SRBI conducted the National Annenberg Election Survey and this provided an opportunity to locate homes that contained youth in the 14 to 22 range as part of that larger survey. This enabled the NASY to interview approximately 1500 youth in 2004.
Beginning in 2006, a $10 incentive was provided to defray costs of using cell phones and to encourage survey completion. Prior to that year, all respondents donated their time to complete the survey. On average, the survey takes 30 minutes to complete.
To access the NASY data sets, complete the form at the following link: Data Access Requests. Access requests will be approved if the requester is affiliated with an academic institution.
