Sampling Procedures

In 1989, a random process was used to create a list of more than 70,000 phone numbers in the Buffalo area. These phone numbers were then screened to identify more than 2,500 households containing at least one adolescent between the ages of 13 and 19. In households with more than one adolescent, a random process was used to determine which particular adolescent would be interviewed (for example, oldest male, middle female). Of the roughly 2500 eligible adolescents, 2052 of them (81% of eligibles) were interviewed in person on the campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo in late 1989 or 1990.

Each of the more than 2000 people who participated in the initial study represents the responses of 100 other individuals of the same age and sex whom we cannot interview. To continue to obtain valid information about the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the full community of young people whom our sample represents, we must re-interview as many of the original participants as possible. No one else can be substituted for our original participants. So the continuing involvement of all participants in this study is crucial.