Table of Contents

Component Description

The NHANES program suspended field operations in March 2020 due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As a result, data collection for the NHANES 2019-2020 cycle was not completed and the collected data are not nationally representative. Therefore, data collected from 2019 to March 2020 were combined with data from the NHANES 2017-2018 cycle to form a nationally representative sample of NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data. These data are available to the public. Please refer to the Analytic Notes section for more details on the use of the data.

The 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic youth alcohol use questionnaire (variable name prefix P_ALQY_R) file provides data on lifetime and recent use (past 30 days). Questions are not specific to type of alcohol used.

Eligible Sample

All participants ages 12 years and older in the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic sample were eligible; however, only data from participants who were ages 12 to 17 were included in this file with limited access through the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). Data from adults 18 years and older were publicly released in a separate file, P_ALQ.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

Questions were self-administered using the Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) system at the Mobile Examination Center (MEC). The ACASI enables respondents to hear questions through headphones as well as read questions on the computer screen. Respondents move at their own speed and touch the screen to indicate their response.

The NHANES 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 alcohol use questionnaires are available on the NHANES website.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

The ACASI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. All data was reviewed by the NHANES staff for accuracy and completeness.

For details on the QA/QC process for this component, please refer to the 2017-2018 MEC Interviewer Procedures and 2019-2020 MEC Interviewer Procedures manuals on the NHANES website.

Data Processing and Editing

The data were edited for completeness, consistency, and illogical values. Because the data are based on self-reports, not all inconsistencies could be resolved. It is recommended that analysts review the data carefully prior to analysis.

Analytic Notes

The COVID-19 pandemic required suspension of NHANES 2019-2020 field operations in March 2020 after data were collected in 18 of the 30 survey locations in the 2019-2020 sample. Data collection was cancelled for the remaining 12 locations. Because the collected data from 18 locations were not nationally representative, these data were combined with data from the previous cycle (2017-2018) to create a 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data file. A special weighting process was applied to the 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data file. The resulting sample weights in the demographic file should be used to calculate estimates from the combined cycles. These sample weights are not appropriate for independent analyses of the 2019-2020 data and will not yield nationally representative results for either the 2017-2018 data alone or the 2019-March 2020 data alone. Please refer to the NHANES website for additional information for the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data, and for the previous 2017-2018 public use data file with specific weights for that 2-year cycle.

All the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic ALQ data were collected in the MEC; therefore, exam sample weights should be used for the analyses. 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.

Codebook and Frequencies

SEQN - Respondent sequence number

Variable Name:
SEQN
SAS Label:
Respondent sequence number
English Text:
Respondent sequence number.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS

ALQ010 - Age when first drank alcohol

Variable Name:
ALQ010
SAS Label:
Age when first drank alcohol
English Text:
How old were you when you had your first drink of alcohol, other than a few sips?
English Instructions:
VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS TO SP: Please select one of the following choices.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 I have never had a drink of alcohol, other than a few sips 1055 1055 End of Section
2 8 years old or younger 16 1071
3 9 or 10 years old 21 1092
4 11 or 12 years old 36 1128
5 13 or 14 years old 77 1205
6 15 or 16 years old 126 1331
7 17 years old or older 29 1360
77 Refused 6 1366
99 Don't know 3 1369
. Missing 75 1444

ALD020 - # days drank alcohol over lifetime

Variable Name:
ALD020
SAS Label:
# days drank alcohol over lifetime
English Text:
During your life, on how many days have you had at least one drink of alcohol?
English Instructions:
VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS TO SP: Please select one of the following choices.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
2 1 or 2 days 160 160
3 3 to 9 days 92 252
4 10 to 19 days 27 279
5 20 to 39 days 13 292
6 40 to 99 days 8 300
7 100 or more days 7 307
77 Refused 5 312
99 Don't know 2 314
. Missing 1130 1444

ALD030 - # days drank alcohol over past 30 days

Variable Name:
ALD030
SAS Label:
# days drank alcohol over past 30 days
English Text:
During the past 30 days, on how many days did you have at least one drink of alcohol?
English Instructions:
VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS TO SP: Please select one of the following choices.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 0 days 210 210 End of Section
2 1 or 2 days 83 293
3 3 to 5 days 15 308
4 6 to 9 days 2 310
5 10 to 19 days 2 312
6 20 to 29 days 0 312
7 All 30 days 1 313
77 Refused 1 314
99 Don't know 0 314
. Missing 1130 1444

ALD040 - How many days 4/5 drinks of alcohol?

Variable Name:
ALD040
SAS Label:
How many days 4/5 drinks of alcohol?
English Text:
During the past 30 days, on how many days did you have {'4' Female, '5' Male - DISPLAY NUMBER} or more drinks of alcohol in a row, that is, within a couple of hours?
English Instructions:
INSTRUCTIONS TO SP: Please select one of the following choices. CAPI INSTRUCTION: IF SP = MALE, DISPLAY = 5 IF SP = FEMALE, DISPLAY = 4.
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 0 days 69 69
2 1 day 20 89
3 2 days 9 98
4 3 to 5 days 5 103
5 6 to 9 days 1 104
6 10 to 19 days 0 104
7 20 or more days 0 104
77 Refused 0 104
99 Don't know 0 104
. Missing 1340 1444