Is there a simple correction factor for comparing adolescent tobacco-use estimates from school- and home-based surveys?
School surveys conducted to monitor the prevalence of adolescent smoking generally yield higher estimates than home-based surveys. Our goal was to examine the consistency of this mode effect over age for different measures of adolescent smoking behavior. If consistent, it would be feasible to define a simple adjustment factor for comparing overall results across survey modes. We identified three pairs of school- and home-based surveys (two national pairs and one California pair), each pair conducted in the same year, that allowed us to compare three key measures of adolescent smoking across age: (a) Ever tried, (b) smoking in past 30 days, and (c) regular smoking. We also examined male experimentation with smokeless tobacco, for which a mode effect has not been investigated. School surveys yielded higher estimates than in-home surveys for all the tobacco-use measures examined. In general, the mode effect was greater in younger age groups. Estimates for the two modes appeared closer for
