Texas Youth Tobacco Survey

Overview

The first Texas Youth Tobacco Survey (TXYTS) was conducted in 1998 following the landmark Texas tobacco settlement. The decision to allocate a percentage of settlement funds to tobacco education and prevention efforts spurred state health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to look at how changes in youth tobacco use brought about by these prevention efforts could be evaluated.

The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which looks at youth behaviors leading to the nation's leading causes of death, had already been successfully implemented at the national, state and school district levels. This survey provided a ready mechanism for scientific surveillance of youth tobacco attitudes, knowledge and behaviors. With the development of a core questionnaire and survey procedures adapted from the YRBS, the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) emerged as the national surveillance model for youth tobacco use.

In 1998, Texas was one of the first states to begin statewide youth tobacco surveillance using this system. Currently, the NYTS and the TXYTS are conducted in Texas schools during spring of every even-numbered year, while the national and state Youth Risk Behavior Surveys are conducted during spring of odd-numbered years. This pattern allows for data collected at the state level to be compared with national data.

The TXYTS has been completed in randomly selected middle and high schools (grades 6-12) throughout the state during spring of the years listed below:

• 1998
• 1999
• 2001
• 2003 (middle schools only)
• 2004 (Starting in 2004, TXYTS was scheduled during even-numbered years due to administration of Texas Youth Risk Behavior Survey during odd-numbered years.)
• 2006

Methods

Approximately 250 middle and high schools across the state are randomly selected to participate in the TXYTS each even-numbered school year. Once the TXYTS sample is selected, no other school may be substituted for a selected school, making voluntary participation of each school critical to the success of the survey.

Within each selected school, classes are randomly selected to participate rather than surveying every student. For example, in a selected school, five to ten second period classes may be surveyed during a spring survey period.

Survey procedures are designed to protect students' privacy by allowing for anonymous and voluntary participation. Students complete a self-administered questionnaire in the classroom, recording their responses on an answer sheet. Answer sheets are used only to record responses to questions. No information that identifies the student is collected.

Data from the TXYTS are only representative of middle and high school students at the state and public health region level. Data are not representative of any individual school or district and no participating schools or districts are identified in reports of results.

Reports

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2006 Prevalence Reports - Texas Department of State Health Services
2006 Youth Tobacco Survey (MS Excel, 23 KB)
2006 Spit Tobacco Use (MS Excel, 31 KB)
1999 - 2001 Prevalence Reports - Texas Department of State Health Services
	Report 1: Prevalance of Tobacco Use Among Public Middle and High School Students Grades 6-12 (928 kb)
1998 Prevalence Reports - Texas Department of State Health Services
	Report 1: Current Tobacco Use (Comprehensive Report) (528 kb)
	Report 1: Current Tobacco Use (Summary Newsletter) (188 kb)
	Report 2: Cigarette Consumption and Brand Use (108 kb)
Texas Tobacco Prevention Initiative
	Texas Tobacco Prevention Initiative - Infrastructure and Baseline Data, January 2001 (19 mb)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
»	http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/youth.htm Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Highlights from the Youth Tobacco Survey
	Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Middle and High School Students — Texas, 2001 (206 kb) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 52 (7) February 28, 2003 Page 152
	Usual Sources of Cigarettes for Middle and High School Students—Texas, 1998–1999 (278 kb) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 51(40):900–901, October 11, 2002 Page 900

This page was last modified October 10, 2007