Recruiting and retaining youth and young adults: challenges and opportunities in survey research for tobacco control.

INTRODUCTION: Evaluation studies of population-based tobacco control interventions often rely on large-scale survey data from numerous respondents across many geographic areas to provide evidence of their effectiveness. Significant challenges for survey research have emerged with the evolving communications landscape, particularly for surveying hard-to-reach populations such as youth and young adults. This study combines the comprehensive coverage of an address-based sampling (ABS) frame with the timeliness of online data collection to develop a nationally representative longitudinal cohort of young people aged 15-21. METHODS: We constructed an ABS frame, partially supplemented with auxiliary data, to recruit this hard-to-reach sample. Branded and tested mail-based recruitment materials were designed to bring respondents online for screening, consent and surveying. Once enrolled, respondents completed online surveys every 6 months via computer, tablet or smartphone. Numerous strategies were utilized to enhance retention and representativeness RESULTS: Results detail sample performance, representativeness and retention rates as well as device utilization trends for survey completion among youth and young adult respondents. Panel development efforts resulted in a large, nationally representative sample with high retention rates. CONCLUSIONS: This study is among the first to employ this hybrid ABS-to-online methodology to recruit and retain youth and young adults in a probability-based online cohort panel. The approach is particularly valuable for conducting research among younger populations as it capitalizes on their increasing access to and comfort with digital communication. We discuss challenges and opportunities of panel recruitment and retention methods in an effort to provide valuable information for tobacco control researchers seeking to obtain representative, population-based samples of youth and young adults in the U.S. as well as across the globe.

The Internet-based MGS2 control sample: self report of mental illness.

OBJECTIVE: The Molecular Genetics of Schizophrenia (MGS2) project recruited an adult control sample of non-Hispanic European-ancestry (N=3,364) and African American (N=1,301) subjects. METHOD: Subjects gave consent to deposit phenotypic data and blood samples into a repository for general research use, with full anonymization of the sample. The authors compared the control sample with population census data for demographic data and with previous population surveys for anthropometrics and prevalences of psychiatric disorders as estimated by an Internet-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: The full MGS2 control sample includes 4,665 subjects (European-ancestry: N=3,364; African American: N=1,301), of whom 3,626 were included in the MGS2 genome-wide association study (GWAS). The sample is generally demographically representative of the U.S. population, except for being older and more female, educated, and affluent, although all strata are represented. Self-reported ancestry was consistent with genotypic and census data. Lifetime prevalences for depressive, anxiety, and substance use diagnoses were higher than in previous population-based surveys, probably due to use of an abbreviated self-report instrument. However, patterns such as sex ratios, comorbidity, and demographic associations were consistent with previous reports. DNA quality for the Internet collected/evaluated control sample was comparable to that of the face-to-face case sample. CONCLUSIONS: The Internet-based methods facilitated the rapid collection of large and anonymized non-Hispanic European-ancestry and African American control samples that have been validated as being generally representative for many aspects of demography, ancestry, and morbidity. Utilization of clinical screening data shared with the scientific community may permit investigators to select appropriate controls for some studies.

A comparison of results from an alcohol survey of a prerecruited Internet panel and the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

BACKGROUND: Given today's telecommunications environment, random digit dial (RDD) telephone surveys face declining response rates and coverage, and increasing costs. As an alternative to RDD, we surveyed participants in a randomly recruited standing Internet panel supplemented with a randomly sampled telephone survey of nonpanel members for a study of associations between onset of alcohol use and later alcohol-related problems. The purpose of this paper was to compare results from our survey with results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a face-to-face probability sample survey of 43,093 adults, with a focus on associations between demographics, age of drinking onset, and alcohol dependence. METHODS: Demographic and drinking characteristics from our survey of 4,021 ever-drinkers between the ages of 18 and 39 years were compared with the characteristics of 11,549 similarly aged ever-drinkers from the NESARC. Weighted analyses accounting for sampling design compared these 2 samples on drinking characteristics over the past year and during a respondent's heaviest period of drinking, and in multivariate models examining associations between demographics, age of drinking onset, and lifetime alcohol dependence. RESULTS: Participants in the supplemented Internet panel were similar to the national population of 18- to 39-year-old ever drinkers on gender, education, and race/ethnicity, while adults who were aged 18 to 25 years were under-represented in the Internet panel. The supplemented Internet panel reported higher rates of moderate risk drinking over the past 12 months, lifetime high-risk drinking, and lifetime (ever) alcohol dependence. Estimates of the associations between alcohol dependence and age of drinking onset, risky drinking, and family history of alcohol problems did not significantly differ between the supplemented Internet sample and the NESARC survey. CONCLUSIONS: Randomly recruited Internet-based panels may provide an alternative to random digit dial telephone surveys and in-person surveys for some studies of factors associated with alcohol-related problems.

A snapshot of terror: acute posttraumatic responses to the September 11 attack.

This paper reports on acute posttraumatic reactions and forms of coping to the September 11 attack. We conducted a survey within three weeks of the attack on a nationwide, representative sample of individuals 13 years or older (N = 3,134). Measures included the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ), the brief version of the COPE, and questions about demographics and attitudes toward the attackers. Results show that residents of New York City--women, young adults (but not teens), and people recently immigrated into the country--experienced more distress about the attack. There was a positive linear association between hours of watching TV news related to the attack and distress, and a small positive association between hostility toward the perpetrators, TV watching, and distress. Income, religion, education, and ethnicity did not have an effect on distress. Maladaptive coping strategies and TV watching explained considerably more variance than did demographics. Reactions to acute trauma seem to depend on the lack of appropriate coping strategies. The curvilinear relationship between age and posttraumatic distress suggests caution when interpreting previous findings about age and posttraumatic reactions. The association between media exposure, coping styles, and acute distress among teens extends previous findings and deserves further investigation.

Psychological reactions to terrorist attacks: findings from the National Study of Americans' Reactions to September 11.

CONTEXT: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, represent an unprecedented exposure to trauma in the United States. OBJECTIVES: To assess psychological symptom levels in the United States following the events of September 11 and to examine the association between postattack symptoms and a variety of indices of exposure to the events. DESIGN: Web-based epidemiological survey of a nationally representative cross-sectional sample using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist and the Brief Symptom Inventory, administered 1 to 2 months following the attacks. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Sample of 2273 adults, including oversamples of the New York, NY, and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reports of the symptoms of PTSD and of clinically significant nonspecific psychological distress; adult reports of symptoms of distress among children living in their households. RESULTS: The prevalence of probable PTSD was significantly higher in the New York City metropolitan area (11.2%) than in Washington, DC (2.7%), other major metropolitan areas (3.6%), and the rest of the country (4.0%). A broader measure of clinically significant psychological distress suggests that overall distress levels across the country, however, were within expected ranges for a general community sample. In multivariate models, sex, age, direct exposure to the attacks, and the amount of time spent viewing TV coverage of the attacks on September 11 and the few days afterward were associated with PTSD symptom levels; sex, the number of hours of television coverage viewed, and an index of the content of that coverage were associated with the broader distress measure. More than 60% of adults in New York City households with children reported that 1 or more children were upset by the attacks. CONCLUSIONS: One to 2 months following the events of September 11, probable PTSD was associated with direct exposure to the terrorist attacks among adults, and the prevalence in the New York City metropolitan area was substantially higher than elsewhere in the country. However, overall distress levels in the country were within normal ranges. Further research should document the course of symptoms and recovery among adults following exposure to the events of September 11 and further specify the types and severity of distress in children.