Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of approximately 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed (12th graders since 1975, and 8th and 10th graders since 1991). In addition, annual follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sample of each graduating class for a number of years after their initial participation.

The Monitoring the Future Study has been funded under a series of investigator-initiated competing research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health. MTF is conducted at the
Survey Research Center in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

For additional information regarding the Monitoring the Future study, please e-mail us at MTFinfo@isr.umich.edu.







Recent Publications

National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2007, Volume I is now available. Volume I provides data and trends on 8th, 10th, and 12th graders.

Overview of Key Findings, 2007 (PDF, 784K) is now available. This volume presents an overview of the key findings from the 2007 survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students.

New 2007 Press Release "Overall, illicit drug use by American teens continues gradual decline in 2007." Text and associated tables and figures are available.

New 2007 Press Release "Teen smoking resumes decline." Text and associated tables and figures are available.

The Education-Drug Use Connection is now available. This book focuses on the fact that adolescents who do well in school are less likely to smoke, drink, or do drugs. It addresses the question: Which comes first -- drug use or school failure? See a description of the book or the related press release.

Other Significant Publications

Monitoring the Future: Questionnaire Responses From the Nation's High School Seniors. Monitoring the Future 12th-grade descriptive results for nearly 2,000 items are now available in annual volumes for 1975 through 2005. Comparison between volumes allows readers to understand the changes in viewpoints, attitudes, and experiences of young people over the past 31 years. Questions include drug use and views about drugs, delinquency and victimization, changing roles for women, confidence in social institutions, concerns about energy and ecology, and social and ethical attitudes.

The Decline of Substance Use in Young Adulthood: Changes in Social Activities, Roles, and Beliefs examines why the new freedoms and responsibilities of young adulthood cause substance use to change. This book explores how changes in social and religious experiences and changes in attitudes towards substance use among young adults are related to changes in substance use, family transitions, living arrangements, education, and employment. Based on the nationwide Monitoring the Future surveys of young people followed from high school into adulthood, the research covers the last 25 years, a period when drug use and views about drugs underwent important changes.

The 2003 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) is the third data collection in the collaborative effort among independent research teams in almost 40 European countries. Modeled after Monitoring the Future, the survey is charged with collecting comparable data on alcohol, tobacco, and drug use among 15- and 16-year-olds. The report compares these data with Monitoring the Future 10th-grade data, with the long-term goal of comparing trends among countries. Excerpts (PDF, 3401K) of the study's results are available. See also the 2001 press release (PDF, 36K). Visit the ESPAD Web site for information on securing the full report.

The Seal of The University of Michigan

Copyright 2008 © The Regents of the University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA. Updated: 12 September 2008.