What Topics Are Covered on the TUS-CPS Questionnaire?

Although the TUS has changed slightly between 1992 and 2003, it has generally contained about 40 items covering:

• cigarette smoking prevalence,
• smoking history,
• current and past cigarette consumption,
• cigarette smoking quit attempts and intentions to quit,
• medical and dental advice to quit smoking,
• cigar, pipe, chewing tobacco, and snuff use,
• workplace smoking policies,
• smoking rules in the home,
• attitudes toward smoking in public places,
• opinions about the degree of youth access to tobacco in the community, and
• attitudes toward advertising and promotion of tobacco.

The 2000 questionnaire is an abbreviated version of the TUS-CPS and consists of several questions measuring basic tobacco use prevalence (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco, and snuff).

In 2001-02, a Core TUS questionnaire was fielded, using mostly the same instrument as that administered in 1998-99. For a list of the few differences, see the footnotes to the 2001-02 questionnaire.

In 2003, a Special Topics questionnaire oriented toward tobacco cessation was fielded. The 2003 Tobacco Use Special Cessation Supplement (TUSCS-CPS) had several unique topics covering:

• type of cigarette usually smoked (menthol, lights);
• switching to lighter cigarettes;
• level of nicotine dependence;
• products, treatments and methods used to quit cigarette and/or other tobacco product use;
• cessation behavior for "other" non-cigarette tobacco products (cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and snuff);
• use of new harm reduction products;
• specific guidance from health professionals; and
• cost of last pack/carton of cigarettes purchased and in which state purchased.

In May 2006, August 2006, and January 2007, a Core TUS was fielded that combined some of the new features of the 2003 TUSCS-CPS with the general 2001-02 TUS. Topics that had not previously been fielded included:

• cost and purchase of "single" cigarettes;
• smoking consumption about 12 months ago;
• awareness and use of "quitlines" and advising family & friends to quit smoking;
• use of "Marlboro Ultrasmooth", a new test-marketed tobacco product;
• asking about other non-cigarette tobacco products separately rather than combined; and
• asking about attitudes toward clean indoor air policies for children's outdoor sports fields and playgrounds, and indoor concert venues.

Race/Ethnicity changes in 2003 CPS: In 2003, significant changes were made to race/ethnicity questions in the CPS. Respondents were able to select more than one race when answering the survey. This change in wording does not impact smoking estimates and trends made for the entire nation from the TUSCS-CPS, but it could potentially impact smoking estimates and trends made by race/ethnicity. NCI has developed a method to construct single race-estimates using data from the post-2003 TUSCS-CPS. The method is useful when trends over time are being examined for single race groups using both pre-2003 and post-2003 data. More information is available in the Bridging Estimates by Race report (PDF), which describes the method and gives an initial assessment of the usefulness of the race adjustment.

Overlap sample for February 2002 TUS and February 2003 TUSCS: The panel design of the Basic CPS provides partial sample overlap between the general TUS-CPS answered in February 2002 and the TUSCS-CPS fielded in February 2003. This feature allows a limited longitudinal analysis (2002-2003) through linkage between the surveys. A two-year cohort (2001-2003) could be constructed for those interested in smoking cessation (smoking status) by also using reported retrospective information on smoking status 12 months previous to 2002. NCI, in collaboration with the Census Bureau, has developed a strategy to create new weights appropriate for analyzing only the overlap sample, and is working on making these weights available for public use. Further information about their development, proper use, and availability from NCI is available in the Weighting the Overlap Sample report (PDF).