Component Description
The Alcohol Use Questionnaire (variable name prefix ALQ) focuses on lifetime and current use (past 12 months). Questions are not specific to type of alcohol used.
Eligible Sample
Participants aged 12 years and older were eligible; however, only data from participants aged 18 and over are included in this file. Mentally impaired individuals or participants who were unable to understand English or Spanish were excluded from the ALQ.
Interview Setting and Mode of Administration
The ALQ is administered at the Mobile Examination Center (MEC) during the MEC Interview. For adults 18 years and older, questions were asked by trained interviewers using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system. For youths 12-17 years, questions were self-administered using the Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) system. The ACASI was conducted in both English and Spanish.
Quality Assurance & Quality Control
The CAPI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. CAPI also uses online help screens to assist interviewers in defining key terms used in the questionnaire.
The ACASI enables respondents to hear questions through headphones as well as read questions on the computer screen. Respondents moved at their own speed and touched the screen to indicate their responses. No proxy respondents or translators were used during the ACASI.
For details on the QA/QC process for this component, please refer to the MEC Interviewer Procedures manual on the NHANES website.
Data Processing and Editing
The data were edited for completeness, consistency, and illogical values.
Analytic Notes
Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues.
Information on alcohol use is collected from all participants aged 12 years and older. Only data from participants aged 18 and older are included in this data file. A special use data file for participants aged 12-17, ALQ_H_R, is available through the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC).