Monitoring the Future Survey/Lifetime Use Scale

Abstract

The Monitoring the Future Survey/Lifetime Use Scale (MTF/LUS) is a core component of the large-scale Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF), an ongoing epidemiological study conducted in the United States. Developed by Johnston, O’Malley, and Bachman, the scale is designed to assess the lifetime prevalence and frequency of use of various licit and illicit substances among adolescents and young adults. The MTF/LUS provides crucial data points regarding exposure to substances such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, amphetamines, and cocaine, serving as a foundational instrument for tracking national trends in substance abuse across secondary school populations.

Keywords

Substance use, lifetime prevalence, drug use frequency, Monitoring the Future Survey, MTF, adolescent health, alcohol use, tobacco, illicit drugs, epidemiology.

Authors

Johnston, L.D., O’Malley, P.M., & Bachman, J.G. (2001)

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Lifetime Use Scale is to establish baseline metrics for exposure to and engagement with psychoactive substances throughout a respondent’s life up to the point of survey administration. By focusing on lifetime occurrences rather than recent use, the scale helps researchers and policymakers understand the cumulative breadth of substance experimentation within the target population.

As a subscale embedded within the larger Monitoring the Future Survey, the MTF/LUS is essential for epidemiology and public health tracking. It allows for longitudinal analysis of cohort trends, enabling the identification of shifts in the popularity of specific drugs, the age of initiation, and the overall trajectory of drug involvement among American youth. This data informs national prevention and intervention strategies against substance abuse.

Construct

The psychological and behavioral construct measured by the MTF/LUS is Lifetime Substance Use Prevalence and Frequency. This construct encompasses two dimensions for most substances: whether the substance has ever been used (prevalence), and if so, the total number of occasions of use (frequency). The scale operationalizes this construct across several substance classes:

• Tobacco Products: Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
• Alcohol: General consumption and instances of intoxication (“drunk or very high”).
• Cannabis: Marijuana and hashish.
• Inhalants: Glue, aerosols, gases, or sprays used to get high.
• Stimulants and Narcotics: Amphetamines (non-medically prescribed), crack cocaine, and powdered cocaine.

The consistent methodology and wording across decades ensure that the data collected provides a robust, reliable measure of drug exposure patterns among high school students.

Validity

While the source content does not provide specific validation coefficients for this subscale, the MTF/LUS is considered highly valid due to its inclusion in the rigorously developed and nationally representative National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) sponsored MTF study. The MTF study employs extensive procedures to ensure the construct validity of its measures, including careful item selection, cognitive interviews with respondents, and comparison with other national datasets.

The face validity is high, as the items directly query self-reported lifetime consumption of clearly defined substances. Furthermore, the MTF methodology addresses concerns about social desirability bias through standardized, anonymous administration protocols, which enhances the scale’s internal validity for sensitive topics like substance abuse.

Reliability

As a key instrument within a major epidemiology survey, the MTF/LUS demonstrates strong reliability, primarily through its stability over time and its replicable methodology. Although specific internal consistency measures (like Cronbach’s alpha) for the “lifetime use” items are often reported elsewhere in MTF documentation, the overall reliability of the MTF data collection process is considered exemplary in the field of survey research.

The scale utilizes consistent response categories (e.g., 7-point frequency scales for illicit drugs) across different cohorts and years, ensuring test-retest reliability for tracking population trends. The standardization minimizes measurement error, allowing researchers to confidently compare drug use patterns across different age groups and time periods.

Factor Analysis

Specific factor analysis results for the MTF/LUS as a standalone instrument are typically integrated into the broader psychometric analysis of the entire MTF questionnaire. Given the diverse nature of the substances measured (ranging from legal tobacco to illicit stimulants), a factor analysis would likely reveal multiple distinct factors reflecting different substance use clusters (e.g., legal substances, cannabis, hard drugs, inhalants).

The scale’s structure inherently reflects a multi-dimensional view of drug use behavior, which is consistent with findings often reported in large-scale studies attempting to model underlying patterns of polydrug use. Researchers often use these items to create aggregate indices of overall drug involvement rather than relying on a single factor structure.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire, Epidemiological Scale Subcomponent

Format: Paper-and-pencil survey (historically); administered anonymously in classroom settings.

Language Available: English (Primarily)

Population Group: Secondary School Students (8th, 10th, and 12th graders)

Age Group: Typically 13 to 18 years old.

Population Details: Nationally representative samples of students attending public and private schools in the contiguous United States.

Test Methodology: Group-administered, standardized questionnaire using standardized instructions to ensure confidentiality and maximize honest reporting.

Keywords

Substance abuse monitoring, prevalence rates, adolescent risk behaviors, psychoactive drugs, NIDA, survey instruments, drug statistics, lifetime exposure.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source document (N/A)

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Dr. Lloyd Johnston, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2321

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Monitoring the Future Survey data, including the Lifetime Use Scale, is publicly available for research purposes, often through data archives maintained by the University of Michigan and sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Researchers should consult the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (ISR) for specific usage permissions and current data access fees, though the instrument itself is widely disseminated for academic use. The core publication year cited for this iteration of the scale items is 2001.

Reference’s

Johnston, L.D., O’Malley, P.M., & Bachman, J.G. (2001). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2001: Volume I, Secondary School Students 2000 (NIH Publication NO. 01-4924) Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The original instrument can be found on pages 25-26 of the Core Measures Initiative Phase I Recommendations, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://vvv.dmhas.state.ct.us/sig/pdf/uconn/core_measures.pdf

A document version of the Lifetime Use Scale is available here: Lifetime Use Scale.doc

Items of the Monitoring the Future Survey/Lifetime Use Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Lifetime Use Scale:

1. Have you ever smoked cigarettes?
   • 1. Never
   • 2. Once or twice
   • 3. Occasionally
   • 4. Regularly in the past
2. Have you ever taken or used smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco‚ snuff‚ plug‚ dipping tobacco)?
   • 1. Never
   • 2. Once or twice
   • 3. Occasionally
   • 4. Regularly in the past
3. Have you ever had more than just a few sips of beer‚ wine‚ wine coolers‚ or liquor to drink?
   • 1. No
   • 2. Yes
4. On how many occasions in your lifetime have you had alcoholic beverages to drink (more than just a few sips)?
   • 1. 0 occasions
   • 2. 1-2 occasions
   • 3. 3-5 occasions
   • 4. 6-9 occasions
   • 5. 10-19 occasions
   • 6. 20-39 occasions
   • 7. 40 or more
5. On how many occasions in your lifetime (if any) have you been drunk or very high from drinking alcoholic beverages?
   • 1. 0 occasions
   • 2. 1-2 occasions
   • 3. 3-5 occasions
   • 4. 6-9 occasions
   • 5. 10-19 occasions
   • 6. 20-39 occasions
   • 7. 40 or more
6. On how many occasions in your lifetime (if any) have you used marijuana (grass‚ pot) or hashish (hash‚ hash oil)?
   • 1. 0 occasions
   • 2. 1-2 occasions
   • 3. 3-5 occasions
   • 4. 6-9 occasions
   • 5. 10-19 occasions
   • 6. 20-39 occasions
   • 7. 40 or more
7. On how many occasions in your lifetime (if any) have you sniffed glue‚ or breathed the contents of aerosol spray cans‚ or inhaled any other gases or sprays in order to get high?
   • 1. 0
   • 2. 1-2
   • 3. 3-5
   • 4. 6-9
   • 5. 10-19
   • 6. 20-39
   • 7. 40+
8. Amphetamines are sometimes called: uppers‚ ups‚ speed‚ bennies‚ dexies‚ pep pills‚ diet pills‚ meth or crystal meth. They include the following drugs: Benzedrine‚ Dexedrine‚ Methedrine‚ Ritalin‚ Preludin‚ Dexamyl‚ and Methamphetamine. On how many occasions (if any) in your lifetime have you taken amphetamines on your own that is‚ without a doctor telling you to take them?
   • 1. 0 Occasions
   • 2. 1-2 Occasions
   • 3. 3-5 Occasions
   • 4. 6-9 Occasions
   • 5. 10-19 Occasions
   • 6. 20-39 Occasions
   • 7. 40 or More Occasions
9. On how many occasions (if any) in your lifetime have you used “crack” (cocaine in chunk or rock form)?
   • 1. 0 Occasions
   • 2. 1-2 Occasions
   • 3. 3-5 Occasions
   • 4. 6-9 Occasions
   • 5. 10-19 Occasions
   • 6. 20-39 Occasions
   • 7. 40 or More Occasions
10. On how many occasions (if any) in your lifetime have you taken cocaine in any other form (like cocaine powder)?
    • 1. 0 Occasions
    • 2. 1-2 Occasions
    • 3. 3-5 Occasions
    • 4. 6-9 Occasions
    • 5. 10-19 Occasions
    • 6. 20-39 Occasions
    • 7. 40 or More Occasions